Take Me To Wonderland
by Copperpelt
Summary: Wonderland. People think of it as a whimsical, magical world hidden away from the bitter realities that the surface world possesses. But looks are deceiving as Alice soon discovers. Wonderland is in the grip of dark times, and the people that inhabit this world turn to Alice to help free them from the wrath of the Red Queen, but there is one problem; her ruthless Champion. R&R PLZ.
1. Let The Madness Begin!

She sat beside her grandfather at a table, waiting for their late guest to finally arrive. The elderly man checked his silver pocket watch and said, "Nearly an hour behind schedule." The orange haired girl sighed and allowed her eyes to wander about her surroundings. They were in a garden.

Towering and perfectly trimmed hedges created walls of foliage with little white flowers that had in full bloom. Alice stood up and walked over to the hedge, and carefully plucked a flower and brought it up to her nose, taking in its delicate scent. She then glanced over her shoulder and asked her grandfather, "How long is this meeting supposed to last again?"

She had never been one that enjoyed sitting around and listening to adult babble on and on about things that were irrelevant to her. He leaned back in his iron chair and told her, "Only a couple hours, Alice. This is a major client of mine, and if he likes my proposition, then we might have a lot of money coming our way."

She nodded and went back to smelling the flower in her hands. She didn't mind her grandfather's work. He was a well-respected inventor, and many of his creations had become a major success, earning them plenty of money to sustain themselves. So, Alice knew all too well how important these big-time meetings were to him.

She sighed and returned back over to the table and took her seat again. Resting her chin in the palm of her hand, she said with a huff of air, "I think they're all mad. If this is so important to them, I don't know why they insist on being late all the time."

Her grandfather smiled and told her, "We're all a little mad, when you think about it. People are just like that." This made Alice smile. Her grandfather always had a way to make these kinds of situations lighthearted. He then reached into his coat pocket and told her, "Hold out your hands, dear."

Slightly confused, Alice did as he asked her. She then felt something round being placed in the palm of her gloved hand, and she looked to see that it was her grandfather's silver pocket watch. He smiled and told her, "There, hang onto that for me. That way, you can count down the hours until we leave."

She smiled and thanked him, then adverted her eyes to the watch. The silver was worn from years of use, but the intricate patterns etched in the metal could still be detected if one knew where to look. She then pressed down on the button at the top of the watch, causing the contraption to pop open and reveal the time.

It was a little past noon; what many people in the area referred to as 'tea time.' Alice clicked the watch closed and tucked it away in a pocket on her purple dress. She had always loved that pocket watch, and when she was younger, it had been her favorite trinket to play with.

The time she and her grandfather spent waiting on these clients felt like it was creeping by ever so slowly. And like music to Alice's ears, she heard the sound of trotting horse hooves approaching the garden area. Not long after that, an elaborate carriage pulled up, lead by two horses of solid white.

The driver quickly jumped down and opened to door. His master stepped out and took in a deep breath of air, then looked over at the two people that had been waiting on his arrival for the past hour. He smiled, his bulbous cheeks turning red as he did so, and walked up to the Dr. Michaels.

With an extended hand, he said to the inventor, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, old chap. I'm afraid we ran into a bit of a snag getting the carriage out this morning. I do hope you forgive me." Alice's grandfather stood up and shook the client's hand, telling him that it was of no problem to him.

The client's eyes then fell onto Alice, and a sly grin formed on his lips. "And who is this lovely young lady?" Michaels motioned to the orange haired girl and told the client, "This is my granddaughter, Alice." Their guest stood in front of her and bowed before her, keeping eye contact as he did so.

He then took her gloved hand and placed a light kiss on it, which sent disturbing chills along Alice's arm. When he began to back away, Alice quickly withdrew her hand and pressed herself further back into her chair. Her grandfather must have sensed her discomfort, for he turned and faced his client and told him, "How about we get this meeting started now?"

The man waved a nonchalant hand and responded with, "If you so desire, Michael." The meeting began, and the two men discussed over blueprints of Michaels' latest invention. Alice, who had been lost in a daydream mixed with thoughts, was starting to doze off at the table.

Occasionally, she would startle herself awake just before falling asleep, and other times, it would be the booming laughter of the client that woke her. She turned her head to side, looking away from her grandfather and his work, and rested her head back in the palm of her gloved hand.

Her eyes were staring off at the towering, flowered hedges, and she began to wonder how long it took for the plant to get to this size, and how many hours the groundskeeper must have spent on getting the shrub to be perfectly manicured. But as she stared at the oversized plant, a flash of white caught her eyes.

Blinking her eyes rapidly to see if her mind was playing tricks on her, she looked again. And sure enough, there was another flash of white through the hedge. Curious, she snuck away from the discussion at the table to see what this flash of white was. It wasn't one of the white flowers waving in the wind, for there wasn't even a breeze blowing.

She rounded the perfect corner of the shrub and caught sight of a short boy with blonde hair, clad in a white suit, round another corner. "Hey!" she called out to him and chased after the boy. She wondered why he was running, and began to think that perhaps he may be lost or in trouble of some kind. Alice chased after the boy until she came to a large, open field.

Ankle-high grass tickled her feet as she stepped out into the field. But in the very center of the opening, was a larger oak tree. Its branches had to have been as big around as her entire body, and she knew that this accomplishment of nature had been here for some time.

But she couldn't help but wonder how she had never noticed the tree before. Surely, she should have been able to see its massive height over the hedge back in the garden. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw that the blonde-haired boy was standing at the base of the tree's trunk.

He held a crimson red pocket watch in his hand and began to shake his head, all while running a hand through his short hair. "No, I'm going to be late if I don't hurry!" she heard him exclaim. He then leaped down into a medium sized hole at the base of the tree, and Alice felt her eyes widen.

She quickly hurried to the tree and dropped to her hands and knees, staring down into the tunnel that lead down below. "Hello? Are you alright?" she shouted, her words echoing afterwards. She thought the boy might have fallen in or jumped in without realizing how deep the hole was. But Alice couldn't see a sign of him through the darkness.

"Hello?" she called again and leaned a bit further. "Little boy?" The ground beneath her then broke away, sending her falling down into the tunnel as well. Alice screamed as she tumbled down, rocks and tree roots scraping her arms and legs.

As she fell, the dark tunnel began to take on a life of its own around her. Bright and vibrant colors erupted and replaced the darkness, blinding her expecting eyes. Strange and obscure objects floated around her; things such as tables and chairs.

She screamed again, not because of the fall, but because of all the strange things going on around her. It then all came to an abrupt end as her body came in contact with the ground at long last.

The impact made her eyes see stars and turned everything fuzzy around her, but she could make out that she was in a small room of sorts. But the edges of her vision were going black, and the last thing she saw before passing out, was a small wooden door.

* * *

A woman with dark blue hair that would nearly borderline black if it got any darker, strode up a small flight of white marble stairs with a crimson red carpet draped over them. She turned on her heels, the long red train of her dress twisting around her ankles and legs, and took her seat in the throne behind her.

Smiling and sighing contently, she crossed her legs and pressed herself deeper into the plush red fabric of the throne. The woman lifted her hand up and snapped her fingers. Not a second later, a servant came running into the throne room, trying his best to hide his hands that were trembling in fear.

"Give me the current status report, nave," she ordered. The servant nodded and pulled out a rolled up list from his pocket. "Um, all seems to be well with Wonderland, my Queen." She tapped her chin with the tips of her crimson painted fingernails before saying, "I see. There's something that I want taken care of. Tell my Champion to come here this instant."

The servant nodded frantically and bowed before the Queen. "Yes, your majesty." He then ran out of the throne room, nearly tripping as he made his hasty dash to retrieve her Champion. The Queen snickered at the servant's buffoonery, but it quickly subsided shortly after his departure.

Now, she waited impatiently for her Champion to arrive. When he did, she perked up at the sight of him. The servant said to her in a trembling voice, "I've summoned him as you asked, my Queen." She lifted her hand and said harshly, "You are dismissed. Leave the two of us be to discuss my day's agenda."

The servant didn't hesitate to follow the order to leave. The Queen turned her attention to her Champion. A sly grin formed on her lips as she stood from her throne and strode up to him. When she stood before him, he knelt down on his knee and placed a fist over his heart as a sign of respect and loyalty to the Queen.

"Stand," she ordered. He obediently followed the order. "You requested me, your highness?" he asked, almost void of any emotion. She smiled devilishly and trailed her filed nails over his shoulders and said innocently, "I want you to do me a favor, Knight." He ignored her seductive touch and asked flatly, "And that would be?"

The Queen removed her hand from the shoulders of her Champion, then strode over to a large window that resided in the throne room. She leaned against the balcony, looking out into the whimsical world that was known as Wonderland. "I want you," she started, "to take a party with you and burn the Eastern quadrant of Wonderland. Burn it to the ground."

The Champion showed the first emotion since his summon that day; surprise. "Burn it?" he asked, unsure if he had heard his Queen right. She turned around and stood in front of him again, only inches away from his body, and twirled her fingers through his short black hair.

"Yes. You heard correct," she said in a hushed voice. He kept his amber eyes locked on her. They were narrowed a bit as he tried to read the Queen's face and decipher her motives for such a request.

But he couldn't not tell a single thing. "If you don't mind me asking, but why do you want it burned to the ground?" he asked cautiously, making sure not to put his Queen into a rage.

She held up one perfect fingernail and trailing it along his jaw-line. "I've been told that they are saying awful things about me there. I want it put to a stop. Rumors aren't good for anybody," she said with slightly pouted lips. Her Champion, conflicted between his own morals and his orders, bit down on his lip and said to her, "But don't you think that that's a bit of a drastic-"

He was cut off in the middle of his sentence when he felt the burning, stinging sensation of the Queen's hand slapping him across the face. He didn't stagger back, but stood firmly in place, the only thing that had moved was his head from the force of the strike.

The Queen tightened her hands into fists and shouted, "Do not question my orders! You and I are under a Blood Oath! Do you not remember?! You have to do as I say without a bit of hesitation, until the day that one of us dies. Now, do as you are told, or I will end out Oath here and now by sending your head to the chopping block!"

Slowly, the Champion faced the Queen again, a red handprint standing out against his porcelain features. He then knelt back down before her, placing his fist over his heart, and said calmly, "Understood. As the Champion of Fabia, the Red Queen of Wonderland, I make it my solemn and sole duty to carry out her majesty's orders….Until death."

The Queen smiled down at her Champion and said, "That's more like it. Now, go forth and execute my orders as the Champion of the Red Queen, Shun." Shun glanced up at her from his kneeling position and said with a nod, "Yes, your highness."

* * *

_story based off the song Wonderland by Natailia Kills. _love me or hate me for this, but i think this is just one of those kinds of stories that everyone should take a jab at. this is kind of my twist on Alice In Wonderland, but a bit more dark, in a sense (kinda like the new version with Johnny Depp). but trust me, it's going to be nothing like the storyline in the movie, and not really that much like the original version. it's just my take on it. everyone is entitled to their own take, right? well, please do read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	2. Enter The World Of Obscurity

Alice slowly woke from her state of unconsciousness, and at first, she thought that the whole ordeal with the blonde boy and falling down the multicolor tunnel had all been a dream. But as her hazy vision came back into focus, she found herself to be in the same room that she had fallen into.

Alice ran her hand through her bright orange hair and sat up, observing her new and strange surroundings by propping herself up with her hands. The ground was icy cold, and a thin layer of either dirt or dust coated the floor. When she lifted her hand, a perfect imprint was left behind.

She then tilted her head up and stared at the tunnel that she had fallen from. It looked like it was miles long, and at the very top, was a small dot of light where the entrance was. "Hello?!" she shouted, her voice reverberating off the walls and bouncing back to her. "Is anyone up there? Grandfather?! Somebody help me!"

But she knew no help was going to come for her. Alice crossed her arms over her chest and said bitterly, "I probably can't be heard from down here anyway…." Her eyes then fell over to the door on the other side of the room. Curious as to what lay on the other side, Alice slowly stood up and made her way over to the misplaced entrance to another world.

As she moved, she realized that her body was sore from her fall, and she still wasn't sure how it hadn't killed her. But she decided not to dwell on it, for she was alive now, and that was all that mattered. Arriving at the door, Alice found that it was smaller than she expected; it didn't even reach her knees.

"What's going on here?" she asked herself aloud. Her first assumption was that it was some kind of trick, an optical illusion of sorts, but there were no slight-of-hand tricks being pulled on this door like a magician would use. As far as she could tell, this door was as real as she was.

Cautiously, Alice extended her hand out and wrapped her lithe hand around the bronze knob. The knob creaked as it made its revolution around and its old gears turned after years of being unused. Rust and dirt fell loose from the brass hinges that held the door in place.

Taking into account how old the door appeared to be, Alice began to wonder if there was anything or anyone on the other side at all. She pushed the tiny entrance open, and found that it was just big enough for her to squeeze her small frame through. There was a moment where she feared that her hips might have gotten stuck, but much to her relief, they slipped through with little to no problem.

Now, she stood at the mouth of a cave. Water dripped from the stalagmites that hung from the ceiling, and sound of water droplets landing in puddles echoed throughout the small cave. She then turned her attention to the only exit in the dark, wet space, and slowly approached it.

Alice had no idea what would be waiting for her outside of this cave. The moment she stepped out of the cave, the blinding light she encountered faded away, and she was faced with a rather peculiar world. The sky was a dark gray, as if a storm was passing through, and oddly shaped clouds floated along ominously.

All around her, plants that were unknown to her stuck out of the ground. Some were very minuscule, while others towered higher than anything she had ever seen before. They all had vibrant colors like what she saw when falling down the tunnel.

She approached one of the oversized plants and placed her hand on its bright blue stalk. With her touch, the stalk suddenly flashed to a purple color. Alice flinched back at the sudden surprise. With her hand no longer touching the plant, it reverted back to blue.

Raising an eyebrow in confusion, she said, "How curious." Taking one last glance at the color changing plant, she walked down the path before her, staring up in awe at all of the obscurities that surrounded her. She had only imagined such a world; never before had she thought one to really exist.

Her mind was trying to take in all of the colors and smells of this place of wonder, and while she was occupied, she didn't notice a small bird fly in front of her face. She jumped and readied herself to swat away the animal, but stopped short when she saw that it could cause her no harm.

The bird, whose feathers were an array of bright, neon colors, flew closer to Alice's face, its little wings fluttering as fast as a hummingbirds. It appeared that the little creature was inspecting the orange-haired girl, the same way that she was inspecting it. Alice, deciding to see if the little bird would land on her finger, lifted her hand with her index finger extended out as a perch.

The bird flew back as her hand approached him and fluttered off into the forest of odd plants. She stared off in the direction that the bird took off in for a moment longer before returning back to the path. But once more, her travel was cut short. This time, it was a lot more startling than a little, harmless bird.

One of the massive flowered plants suddenly bent down in front of her, blocking Alice's path. The girl cried out and fell back in surprise. "And whoooo are yooooou?" asked a voice. Alice looked frantically about and stuttered out, "Wh-who's there?!" She didn't know what was going on.

First, the flower had nearly fallen on her, and now, somebody that she couldn't see was speaking to. The fallen plant in front of her began to move again as if it were alive. It then turned and the flowered top turned and faced Alice. And ever so slowly, the closed flower bud opened its petals, revealing a face inside.

"I am," the flower replied. Whoooo are yooooou?" it asked again. Alice knew her eyes had to be wide as teacup saucers. "Fl-flowers don't talk!" she shouted at the plant, but more than likely, she was trying to convince herself otherwise.

The oversized perennial chuckled and said, "They do here, silly. Now, once again, whoooo are yoooou?" The flower stuck its human-like face right in front of Alice, and the orange-haired girl could smell the sweet scent of the pollen and petals.

"M-my name's Alice," she stammered out, still shocked of the speaking vegetation. The talking flower narrowed its eyes at Alice and began to examine over her. It then tilted its head back and forth and said, "Ohohoho. I see you're a human. There hasn't been one of those pass through here in some time. Quite rare, indeed. Yes, yes."

Trembling slightly from the surprise of it all, Alice slowly stood back up to her feet and asked the plant, "You said all plants talk here. Where exactly is 'here' if you don't mind me asking?" The flower lifted one of the leaves on its stalks and pointed with it like an arm out in the distance.

"This is Wonderland. But I'll tell you, deary, it's anything but a Wonder nowadays. It might be best for someone as yourself to go back the way you came," it said with a tinge of seriousness to its chipper voice.

Alice tilted her head to side in confusion. "I can't go back the way I came. It's impossible….Why do you say that though? What's so wrong with this place….Other than talking plants?" she asked with curiosity.

Alice's new flowery friend was about to reply to her questions, but a thick black smoke rolled in around them, snatching the air away and causing them both to choke. The flower shouted through its coughing, "Run! Before they see you!" Alice then felt the large leaves of the plant nudge her in the direction that she had to run.

Bright orange flames began to rise up around her, and Alice realized that she had to get out of this area before she was burned with the rest of the place. Keeping her eyes squinted shut to shield them from the thick smoke, she dashed off in the direction that the talking flower had told her to go.

* * *

He executed the Queen's orders the way she had asked; burn the Eastern quadrant of Wonderland. Shun had with him several Knights of the Heart as well, and they helped set fire to every square inch of the area. This was to stop the ugly rumors and talk that was going around about the Red Queen, but Shun felt it to be anything but justice.

But he was not one to stand up to the Queen; nobody was. If anyone opposed her, it was off with their head. On top of that, he was her Champion and bound to her by an Oath that they made quite some time ago.

It was by that Oath that Shun had to do whatever the Queen asked of him, no matter how insane or unreasonable the request was. He sighed, knowing that it was not wise to question his Queen, for there was nothing he could do about it until the Oath was no more.

Shun returned his gaze and watched the Knights of the Heart rummage around in the ashen rubble of the Eastern sect of Wonderland. They were looting anything that may have been spared in the fire, and taking it as their own. One Knight, who was still mounted on his crimson red horse, strode up to Shun.

He asked the Champion, "The task here is taken care of. Shall we return back to her majesty?" Shun nodded. "Go on back," he said to the Knight clad in crimson red armor. The Knight saluted his superior and gave a whistle to summon the rest of the men. They all mounted their own red horses and galloped off back to the castle.

Shun, on the other hand, remained and examined the latest request of his Queen. The ashes around him still smoldered and left smudges of black on his pristine white uniform that separated him from the rest of the Knights. This white color made him stand out from all the other colors of crimson that the Queen adored, but it was by her request that his apparel be different.

As she had said, it would let the people of Wonderland know who he was, and that he was to be feared, for he was her sword and shield. He was the one who took out the Queen's wrath and judgment on her subjects. Shun tugged on the reigns of his own horse, which was also the purest of white, and commanded the beast to go forward.

It did as he said with little resistance. As Shun passed through the charred remains of the Eastern sect, something flashing beneath the ashes caught his eye. "Stay here," he told the horse. It bowed its head to let his master know that he understood the order.

Shun slid off the crimson saddle of his horse and made his way over to the mystery object that was glittering through the gray ashes. It was hidden near the charred remains of a giant flower, which Shun found peculiar, mainly because it was very near the old path to the Rabbit Hole.

He knelt down and brushed the ashes away, causing his white uniform to become soiled further with dirt. When it was all cleared away, he picked up an old, silver pocket watch. He stared at it with curiosity. "What's this doing here?" he asked himself.

There were intricate patterns etched into the metal, and they were greatly worn down with use, but still detectable. Shun then opened the pocket watch to see the second tick, but not go anywhere, for time was irrelevant in Wonderland, and the only watch in the whole place that worked, was the one that the Queen had given to the White Rabbit as a gift a long time ago.

Shun narrowed his eyes at the watch. _This doesn't belong here, _he thought silently to himself. The only thing this could mean, was that a person from the world above had found their way to Wonderland. Shun tucked the pocket watch away and returned to his horse, climbing back up onto the saddle, and turned the beast around.

"Return to the castle," he ordered. The horse let out a huff of air and went immediately into a trot. All on the ride back, Shun debated whether or not he should inform his Queen of the new arrival that was somewhere in Wonderland.

* * *

wow. eight reviews for the first chapter of this story? thanks so much everyone! you have no idea how much that means to me. like, seriously. that may be the most reviews i've ever gotten on a single chapter. plus all the favorites that it's been added to thus far. thank you all, so much! it makes me feel like this story is gonna be a major success! Read and do leave a review on the way out! ~Copperpelt~


	3. The Cheshire's Smile

Alice was scared, she wasn't about to deny that. Here she was, stranded and lost in some strange, upside down world that was completely foreign to her. Here, the plants talked, and everything was vividly colored; minus the sky. It was the overflowing with monotone grays and were very forewarning, even though they didn't even hold a bit of thunder or lightning.

Tired of walking, the orange-haired girl stopped walking and leaned against a large boulder, resting her hands on her knees. She then tilted her head back and gazed up at the sky, and wondered if her grandfather had realized her absence.

Surely he had; she had been gone a good two or three hours after she suddenly took off and chased after the blonde-haired boy in a white suit. With the thought of the reason why she was here in this place, she couldn't help but let her mind wonder where that boy had gone.

She had fallen down that weird tunnel shortly after him, and Alice figured that it would have taken him just as long to recover from the fall as it had her. But since she stepped into this world of mystery, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of the blonde boy. It was just like the fall down the tunnel didn't even slow him down the least bit.

Alice sighed heavily and glanced down the path that she had been walking down since the talking flower told her to leave as fire consumed everything. Out in the distance, she could see the smoke still rising up into the air. For some reason, Alice felt that that fire hadn't been some random act of nature.

Right before the flames and smoke had started to consume everything, the talking flower had informed her that Wonderland, wasn't a safe place, and that she needed to go back the way she came. That was all Alice found out though, for a moment after that the heat of the flames forced her to leave.

If she had stayed, then she would have been burned with everything else back there. "Lost, my dear?" a voice suddenly asked. Alice jumped in surprise. Her eyes began to scan around, and she couldn't find the source of the voice. Thinking it might be another talking plant, Alice began to look at the plants that surrounded her.

None of them moved or had faces, and she knew that the foliage wasn't to blame at the moment. "Up here," the voice said. Alice's eyes shot up to a tree limb, but there was nothing there. She was sure that the voice came from there. Doubting herself, she began to search around again.

"Oh, that's right. You can't see me. How forgetful of me," the voice said from the tree limb. Alice looked back up to see a grin floating in the air. The face began to form around it, and next thing Alice knew, she was staring up at, what appeared to be, a girl about her age.

"H-how did you do that?" Alice asked curiously and with a tinge of fear at the sight of this unnatural being. The girl, who had silver hair tied up in a high ponytail, leapt out of the tree and landed perfectly on her feet. The clothes that the mysterious being wore had stripes of two different shades of purple.

Or perhaps purple and pink, depending on how one looked at it. The girl still wore a wide grin on her face, and Alice was starting to get slightly freaked out by the all too cheerful smile. "And what are you? You're obviously not a talking flower," Alice said to the strange being before her.

The girl bowed to Alice and said, "I'm Julie, a Cheshire by no other name." Julie straightened up and narrowed her eyes, which were oddly cat-like, at Alice. "I don't believe I've seen you wandering around Wonderland before. You must be new here." Alice nodded nervously and stepped back as Julie got nearer to her.

The orange-haired girl wasn't so sure about this character. People, if one could classify Julie as a person, didn't have the ability to vanish and reappear. The only people that could do this, were Magicians, but that was all an act. Alice had to remind herself that in this world, the impossible might as well be completely possible.

For all Alice knew, she could fly, if she tried hard enough. Julie had come closer to her without realizing it, and when Alice did, she jumped back and landed on her backside. Julie gasped and said quickly, "Oh, dear, I didn't mean to startle you. It's just, I don't think I've seen somebody like you for many, many years. Please, pardon my curiosity."

Alice tilted her head to the side, surprised that a creature of such a curious and strange world, could become curious herself. Julie extended out a hand to Alice, offering her help to her feet. The orange-haired girl hesitated for a moment, then took it and allowed the Cheshire to help her up.

"Well, you know who I am, but I do not know who you are," Julie said in a perky tone. "Alice," she responded nervously. It would take her a while to get used to the bizarre mechanics of this world. No. Alice didn't want to be here long enough to get used to this place.

She wanted to go home, to returned back to a place or normality. Yeah, this world was special and unique, the kind of world she had wanted to escape to on so many occasions, but now that she was here, the strangeness of it all was proving to be too much for her to handle.

She liked to feel in control, and a place where plants spoke and people could vanish, made her feel like everything was spinning out of her grasp. Alice was even beginning to wonder if this was all a dream that she had concocted out of her boredom during her Grandfather's meeting.

Julie's Cheshire grin widened a bit more upon hearing Alice's name. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Alice. Welcome to Wonderland," said the silver-haired Cheshire, "I only wish that your visit could be a bit more pleasant so you could enjoy all this place has to offer. But these are dark times, I'm afraid."

Much to Alice's surprise, Julie's grin waned a little upon speaking of these 'dark times.' This was the second time that she had been told that Wonderland wasn't a good place to be right now, and it had poor Alice confused.

Of course, there was the strange and random fire back at the entrance to the tunnel, and there were the dark and scary clouds hanging overhead, but that was all that she could find wrong with the place, other than the obvious impossibilities.

"What's the problem then? I've been told on another occasion that Wonderland isn't safe. Why is that so?" Alice asked, wanted to know what had everyone she met in such a fit over the whole thing. Julie glanced over both her shoulders, as if she were being watched or followed.

The Cheshire then leaned in close to Alice's face and whispered to her, "I can't really speak of it. Well, I could, but I don't want to get caught and be punished. But there might be somebody that will inform you of Wonderland's current condition. He's quite the reckless one, and not exactly the smartest, but he cares not if he gets in trouble for speaking the truth. If you find him, then I'm sure your questions will find their answers."

This had Alice's curiosity stirred. One reason, was that Julie would get punished for telling her why Wonderland was in the midst of dark times. How could speaking of common fact get you punished? And two, there was somebody out there willing to break the rules and give her the answers that she so desperately wanted.

Alice asked, "Where can I find him?" Julie pointed just off the path that Alice had been traveling, and in the direction of thick underbrush. "He's just through there. You can't miss him. Quite the character, I might add. You'll most certainly know when you stumble upon him. But you might want to hurry. If he's hosting a party, he isn't fond of being interrupted during the festivities," the Cheshire informed her.

Alice nodded and started to head off towards the path that Julie indicated, but stopped to turn around and thank the silver-haired girl for helping her out. But when she did so, Alice found that the girl was gone, the only thing remaining was that Cheshire smile, which vanished shortly after.

"Uh, thanks?" Alice said, wondering if Julie was still around to hear her. Shrugging her shoulders, Alice slid down into the ditch that lined the old path, and began forcing her way through the thickets.

* * *

The Queen sat in her throne room, waiting for the return of her Champion so he could give her the words she wanted to here; that the Eastern quadrant was successfully burned to the ground. Her wishes were soon fulfilled as the Knights of the Heart returned with her Champion following shortly behind them.

The Knights bowed before the Queen out of respect and left the throne room, knowing that the delivery of the status of their current mission was the job of her Champion. She smiled deviously at the sight of him striding across the room. He knelt down before her, hand fisted over his heart as a sign of respect.

"All went well, your majesty," he told her, his voice void of any emotion. That was just how her Champion was though; nearly emotionless. But the Queen didn't want to have it any other way. It showed her that he meant business. But he hadn't always been like this. There was a time, when Shun had first taken the Blood Oath with her.

He had been a different person, a rather cheerful one, at that. But all that cheer and other emotions had slowly faded away like the grins of the Cheshires as he worked under the command of the Red Queen. Regardless, Fabia found it amusing nonetheless.

She liked a challenge from time-to-time. Shun stood from his kneeling position on the floor, and was about to excuse himself from her presence, when something caught Fabia's eye. "What's that?" she asked in a rather harsh voice. Her Champion raised a brow in confusion. "What is what, your majesty? Is there a problem?"

Fabia abruptly stood from her throne and approached Shun, her long, crimson red dress flowing behind her and making it appear like she was floating or gliding along the marble floors. He stood there, motionless and without breaking eye contact from her harsh, green gaze.

Fabia's eyes then drifted down the pocket that was sewn into the abdominal area of the Champion's white uniform. And with preciseness like nothing ever seen before, she snatched the tiny chain that was just barely peeking out from the pocket, and lifted out a silver pocket watch.

She held it delicately by its chain with her crimson nails, her eyes scrutinizing over it. "And where did you find this little trinket?" she asked coldly and without tearing her eyes from the spinning watch. "I-I, um….Found it in the Eastern quadrant," he stuttered out. This wasn't like her Champion.

He wasn't one to stumble on his words, ever. "Where in the Eastern quadrant?" she inquired, still staring at the watch. Shun remained silent for a moment. Fabia felt her patience growing thin, and she ripped her gaze away from the watch and pinned a angered glare at her Champion.

And yet, he still remained motionless and nearly unresponsive to the Queen's anger. "I asked you where you found it in the Eastern quadrant!" she bellowed, feeling her blood boil. This just wasn't like her Champion. He sighed and told her, "Near the old Rabbit Hole, your majesty."

Fabia looked back down at the silver watch and its intricately etched patterns. This was no something from Wonderland. It was from the world above, and it could have only entered here if somebody opened the door that connected Wonderland to the world that resided above.

"I feel that we have a bit of a mouse problem now, and I know you know what I mean, my Champion," she said flatly and without looking at Shun. He only gave a single nod. "Yes, I do," he replied. "Then find them, and bring them to me."

* * *

All during his ride back to the palace, Shun had been debating whether or not to turn over the pocket watch he found. It was law by the Queen that any item from the world above be brought in to her. These items hardly ever found their way into Wonderland; they always got caught up in the vortex of the Rabbit Hole, doomed to spin and float there for all eternity.

If an item did get past there, then it meant that a person had brought it with them. And if a human from the world above was discovered in Wonderland, it was by the Queen's decree that they be brought to her. From there, that person's worth would be judged.

It would be determined if the human was of any worth to the Queen; if not, then it was off with their head. But if any worth was found in them, which was very unlikely, then they would be kept around the palace, mainly as a foot slave to her majesty.

And taking all of this into account, Shun had thought carefully about turning the pocket watch into the Queen. He knew what it was like to be at her mercy, and he hated it; he didn't want another poor soul to be a puppet like he was. But the sad thing was, that Shun had wanted to do this, to be her Champion.

If he hadn't, then he would have never taken the Blood Oath with the Queen and bound himself to her until death. But as time went on and he discovered that this was anything but what he truly desired, that her words had been empty lies, he had wanted out.

He wanted to go back in time and prevent himself from ever making the deal with this crimson-obsessed devil. So, that was why he decided to keep the knowledge of the watch to himself. Although, he never took into account that the Queen would see it on his person.

When she retrieved it from that pocket, he would have given anything to be struck down right there. Shun knew now, that some poor and unknowing person had been condemned to either death, or worse. Now, Fabia was confronting him about the watch, and he was given no other choice but to tell her where he had found the contraption.

When she told him that he knew what this meant, he replied that he did. And Shun did know what this meant, all too well. The Queen turned back around the face him, her face softened up and an innocent kind of devilish appearance had taken over, rather than the face of wrath and vengeance that could have made a grown man cry like a small child.

She wrapped the chain of the watch around her hand and wrist, and closed in the gap that was between her and Shun. He didn't move, but he didn't have to move in order to know what was coming.

Fabia ran one of her well-manicured, crimson nails down his face and purred, "Find the little intruder and bring them to me. Preferably alive, but if that proves to be a problem, then I can settle for dead. In the meantime, I think I'll hold onto the watch and put it away for safe keeping."

She drummed her fingernails along his jaw-line as she turned on the spiked heel of her red Stilettos. "Understood, Shun?" she asked, her back turned to him. Shun nodded and told his Queen, "Understood. I'll set out tomorrow and search for them."

He didn't have to see her face to know that she was smiling deviously on the other side, for he could feel the evil grin forming on her lips. She glanced over her shoulder, the longer portion of her blue hair falling down her back. The Queen shot a seductive smile at him and said, "I knew I made the right decision in making you my Champion."

She then exited the throne room, vanishing down the corridor that her room was on. Shun sighed, allowing his statue-like stance to relax. He thought to himself, _But I made the wrong decision in placing my loyalty in you._

* * *

sorry for not uploading yesterday. i had a late jazz band rehearsal and had no time to get around to it. Read and leave a review on the way out! ~Copperpelt~


	4. Tea Party

Alice pushed back the thick underbrush of the forest that lined the old beaten path that she left behind after talking to the Cheshire. She was going in search of somebody that would be willing to explain to her what was going on in Wonderland, and what made it such a dangerous time.

Twigs and briars caught on the skirt of her purple dress, tearing strings from the fabric, and she knew that her dress would most likely be ruined by the time she got out of this place; if she ever did. She shook these negative thoughts out of her mind. If she had a mindset that was saying that she would be trapped in Wonderland forever, then odds were she would be. _I've got stay positive. I'll get out of here, I know I will, _she thought to herself defiantly.

With this determination fresh on her mind, she focused back to finding this person that Julie spoke of. The Cheshire girl had said that Alice would know it when she found him, for there was no way she could miss him. But she felt like she had been walking through the thicket for nearly half an hour, and she was growing skeptical as to whether or not the Cheshire had been right in her directions.

Alice, her feet aching from all the walking through the rough terrain, leaned against the bark of a twisting blue tree and sighed. "Where is this guy?" she asked herself while heaving another heavy sigh. She then tilted her head back and gazed up at the sky from beneath the tree branches.

The dark, ominous storm clouds were almost above her. They still held no sense of bad weather in them, and Alice began to think if they were a reflection of these 'dark times' that Wonderland was experiencing, or if it was always so stormy looking here in this world.

She stood there, looking up at the sky and watching the dark clouds slowing roll by, but a strange sound made her rip her eyes away from the sky and advert them back to the forest around her. It sounded like the clinging of glasses or silverware.

Following the source of the sounds, Alice slowly began to push forward through the thicket. She had no idea what she might find this time, but it surely couldn't be any more bizarre than talking flowers or vanishing people. Alice pulled down the massive leaf of a plant so she could see what lay beyond it, and what she saw, made her smile ever so slightly.

In the middle of a large clearing in the forest, was a long table. On it, foods and all colors, shapes, and sizes covered nearly every square inch of the tabletop, leaving no room for even a mouse to jump up and snatch a crumb. Eight chairs lined the table; three on the sides and one at each end.

But there appeared to be nobody remotely nearby to the extravagant spread. This little factor struck Alice's curiosity. There was all this before her, but nobody around to enjoy it? Was it another oddity of Wonderland? Did the food talk, perhaps? Maybe the table was some kind of living creature? Alice didn't put any of these things past the reality of Wonderland, for they were all possibilities.

She had quickly learned that anything could happen in this strange world, and she had somewhat come to accept it, even though she may never truly get used to it. Alice was just about to step into the clearing, when she heard the sounds of laughter approaching from the forest.

Quickly, she ducked behind the massive leaf that had previously been blocking her view, and waiting to see who would appear. Two people stepped into the opening. One girl with two long, blue pigtails, and boy with shaggy, sandy brown hair, who appeared to be rather sleepy. The girl, who seemed to have a rather calm and stoic composure, sat down at one of the three chairs that lined both sides of the long table.

The boy groggily joined the seat behind her and let out a yawn. "Now, where is that idiot? He said he'd be waiting for us when we got here. Figures. This is just like him," the girl said shortly, crossing her arms over her chest. The boy beside her, had drifted off to sleep and was resting his head on a very small section of the table that didn't have a plate or dish on it.

Alice tilted her head to the side. Were either one of these two the person that Julie spoke of? Neither one of them really stood out as 'quite the character' as the Cheshire had put it. There was hardly anything very obscure about them. In fact, they appeared to be the most normal things that Alice had encountered thus far.

Regardless, she had learned that looks could be deceiving in this strange land, so she remained hidden for a bit longer to see if anything happened. Besides, the blue-haired girl said that somebody was late. Perhaps that was the person that Julie spoke of. A moment or two passed, and there was still nothing.

The girl with blue pigtails in her hair had complained several times about their absence friend, saying how he always pulled stunts like this. Not a moment later, Alice heard the rustling of leaves coming from the same direction that the two people had the table had arrived from.

The bluenette let out a huff of air and said, "About time." Suddenly, a figure leapt out of the thicket, executing perfect cartwheels. They were moving too fast for Alice to get a good look at him, so she knew nothing about what his appearance was. The figure then did one final cartwheel and jumped up into the air, landing square on the edge of the overcrowded tabletop. His arms were extended up in a 'V' shape, then he bowed down as if waiting for an applause.

But there was none. The blue-haired girl stared at him with narrowed eyes and said curtly, "You're late for tea….Again." Alice could now see the features of the person who had jumped onto the table after doing his many cartwheels. He had dark brown hair that was just a bit less shaggy than the hair of the sleeping boy at the table. He also wore a top hat with a 10/6 tag stuck in it with a pin.

Laughing nervously, the brunette turned to the bluenette and said, "Sorry." She waved her hand at him nonchalantly and replied, "Whatever. Let's just get this thing started." Alice remained hidden behind her giant leaf, and couldn't help but think to herself that the guy with the top hat was who Julie had told her about. He appeared to be a strange character in every aspect of the term.

_Very peculiar, _Alice thought to herself. The brunette, still standing on the table, crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "No. We cannot start the tea yet. Not all the guests are at the table," he said sternly. The bluenette raised an eyebrow at him and began to look around the table.

"What are you talking about, Hatter? You only invited Joe and I. Who else are you expecting?" she asked, still searching around for this belated guest. Alice saw the brunette cut a sly grin, and he bent down and picked up a small teacup. He examined it carefully, as if checking for chips in the glass, then threw it with all his might.

The teacup went flying and smashed on the trunk of a tree that stood right beside Alice. Alice cried out in surprise, lifting her hands up to shield herself from flying shards of ceramic teacup. "Care to join us for tea, Miss?" the boy called out to her from the table. Alice was trembling from the sudden attack on her via teacup, but she forced herself to step out into the clearing and join this strange batch of characters.

The brunette jumped down from the table and stopped in front of Alice, then curtsied and said, "Do apologize for my aim. I did not mean to hit the tree." Alice was taken aback by his apology. Had he meant to hit her with the teacup? If so, then Alice wasn't so sure if she wanted to ask this guy anything.

The brunette stood up straight and extended his hand out to her. "If you are going to be joining us for tea, then it would only be polite to introduce myself. My name is Dan, or sometimes better known as Hatter in these parts.," he said with a rather mad smile. Alice cautiously took his hand and shook it.

"N-nice to meet you, Dan…..Hatter." She was confused about which to call him. The bluenette stood up from her chair and approached Alice and said, "I'm Runo of the March Hares. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Alice gave Runo a single nod. The Hatter then pointed over to the shaggy-haired boy that was still sound asleep and told her, "That's Joe, the Dormouse. Don't mind him. We all have a feeling he's a bit of a narcoleptic."

Alice found herself smiling at the Hatter's little comment. Why, she didn't really know. Dan then motioned over to the large table and said, "Please, please. Do join us for tea." Alice didn't have much choice. She had questions that needed answers, and this was where she had been told to go and get them. Plus, she was feeling rather famished. Alice took a seat beside Runo, and was now the closest to the Hatter.

Dan lifted one of his hands, and a teapot lifted into the air and hovered over to each little ceramic cup that was placed before them. Piping hot tea was poured, stopping just at the rim. "Any sugar, my dear?" the Hatter asked. Alice shook her head.

"No, thanks. I'm not very fond of sugar in my tea," she said politely and picked up the teacup, carefully testing the hot liquid with her lips. Her eyes suddenly widened, not because of the temperature of the tea, but because of its taste. It had to be some of the best tea she had ever taste.

It wasn't too strong like the Earl Gray they had back home, and it wasn't too weak. Somehow, it was the perfect blend of tea, and she found herself drinking the entire cup, not even minding the scorching heat. The Hatter was smiling at her, and after taking a sip of his own tea, he set the cup down on its saucer and asked Alice, "So, what brings somebody like you to Wonderland? You couldn't have come her just for the sites or on vacation, I know. Nobody does that anymore."

Alice took a pastry of some sort off of a tray and told the Hatter, "It was rather an accident. You see, I was chasing after this boy with blonde hair in a white suit, and I saw him fall down this hole. I ended up falling in too and here I am." Runo and Dan's eyes were wide as she explained how she ended up in Wonderland. The March Hare shook her head and said, "You were following the White Rabbit?"

Alice tilted her head to side and said, "White Rabbit? That boy? He looked nothing like a rabbit." Runo shook her head and said, "He's not really a rabbit. It's his title. The same way I'm not really a hare, and he's not really a mouse of any kind." Runo pointed to the still-sleeping Joe beside her.

Alice, somewhat understanding what the bluenette was telling her, said, "Oh, then I guess I was following this White Rabbit. Is there something wrong with that?" The Hatter leaned back in his chair and told Alice, "Everyone knows not to follow the White Rabbit! It will only lead to trouble."

Alice, feeling a sudden rush of embarrassment for not knowing this, replied, "I-I didn't know. I thought he was just a little boy that was lost. I was going to help him." The Hatter narrowed his eyes at Alice for a moment, the jumped back on the table and ran up to the girl, dodging plates and cups with inhuman expertise.

He was now face-to-face with the orange-haired girl, and his eyes had only narrowed in further scrutiny. "You're not from Wonderland, are you?" he asked curiously. Alice, pressed as far back in her chair as she could get, shook her head. "No. I'm not. I told you, I fell down a hole and got stuck here."

Runo gasped and said, "She's from the world above! She's a human, Hatter!" The Hatter sat back on an empty tray and crossed his legs. "It appears that she is, March Hare," he said while rubbing his chin. Alice looked back and forth between the two. She was confused. Why was her being a human such a big deal in this place?

She could understand if they had never seen one before, but they were such strange people themselves, so surely a human couldn't be obscure to them. "And what's wrong with being a human? It seems to be a rather interesting thing here," Alice asked. Dan began to look around the forest that surrounded them, as if somebody might pop out at any moment.

He then leaned in and said in a hushed voice, "Humans are forbidden in Wonderland. If any are spotted, then they are to immediately reported and sent in to see the Queen for their final judgment, which is either death or eternal servitude. Most of the time, it's death."

Alice gulped and a rush of fear and paranoia came over her. What if these three turned her in to the Queen? She didn't want to be killed. As if picking up on Alice's distress, Dan rested his hand on her shoulder and told her, "Don't worry. We're not going to turn you in to that witch. I promise."

Alice relaxed a bit. For some reason, she felt that she could trust these three. Or at least one of them, for all he did was sleep. Dan tapped his fingers on his chin and said, "As long as she doesn't know you're here, then you should be fine. Who all have you talked to?" Alice thought back to the only two creatures she had encountered thus far. She told the Hatter, "A talking flower that I met when I first arrived here, and a Cheshire by the name of Julie that sent me to you guys to have my questions answered."

Dan nodded and said, "Well, the flower was in the Eastern quadrant, and it's been burned to the ground. So, we don't have to worry about it talking. As for Julie, she's rather trustworthy, so I have no fear of her blabbing to the Queen. Are you sure that's all you've spoken to?" Alice nodded.

The Hatter stood up and began pacing back and forth on the table, stepping over trays and cups without even bumping them. He said, "Plus, you should be safe here with us." Alice thought back to the teacup that he threw at her, and was rather skeptical about that. "And why is that?" she asked curiously.

Runo answered her question, "Because we're Mad." Alice raised a brow up and said, "Mad? Like, angry?" Dan laughed and stopped his pacing for a moment to tell her, "No. Mad as in not quite right in the head. When you're Mad, you're basically the outcasts of Wonderland. Nobody cares about who you are, and what you do."

Alice now knew why Julie sent her here to the Hatter. It was because he was pretty much overlooked by everyone in Wonderland and could do whatever he pleased. "Okay," Alice started, "so could you maybe answer some of my questions real quick? Like why Wonderland apparently is experiencing these so-called dark times?" The Mad Hatter and Mad March Hare both looked at her, an expression of grimness crossing their faces.

"It's all because of the Red Queen," Dan explained, "she's plunged Wonderland into the shadows, but it wasn't always like this. Before she got that Champion of hers to do all her dirty work, she ruled rather well. But the power drove her mad, and not the good kind of mad."

Alice's question had been answered for the most part. She now knew why Wonderland was in such bad shape. It was all because of a tyrannical Queen with too much power on her hands. "Why don't all the people of Wonderland stand up against her then? If she's got things so bad, then do something about it. That's what people do where I'm from," Alice told them.

The Hatter sighed and explained to her, "They're too afraid of the Queen and her Champion. They know that if he's given an order, then he'll take it out with little to no flaws. In fact, I've heard word that the burning in the Eastern quadrant was order by the Queen, and executed by her Champion." Runo chimed in and added, "He's nothing more than a ruthless, cold-hearted puppet of the Queen."

Alice shook her head. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Well, if you ever want Wonderland back to the way it used to be, then you have to stand up to your abuser and overthrow her. And you won't be able to if you're all too afraid to."

Suddenly, Joe jolted into an upright position as he woke up at long last. He turned to face Alice and said, "We'd love to kick that Queen off of her throne, but everyone else is too afraid to. And there's no way just the three of us could stand up against her Champion. He'd kill us." Joe's head then fell back down, and he was asleep once more. Alice could see their dilemma.

These three Mad people might have the courage to fight against the Queen, but nobody else did. They were all too scared of their ruler to do anything about it. And, like Joe had said, they just didn't have the power they needed to take down the Queen. The Hatter had remained silent for a moment, then slid off the table and stood at the side of Alice's chair.

His eyes were scanning over her again and he said, "Perhaps…..You can help us take down the Queen." Alice stared at the Hatter, and would have thought him Mad….If he weren't already. "Me? Why me?" she asked frantically. Dan crossed his arms over his chest and explained, "The Queen doesn't want people in Wonderland because she fears them. She knows that they're determined when they set their mind to something, and if a brave new face emerges, then the people of Wonderland might gain confidence and stand up to the Queen.

That's why she orders for humans to be taken to her if they are ever spotted." Alice shook her head and told Dan, "I'm sorry, but do I really look like the kind that could lead a rebellion against some Queen?" The Hatter tilted his head to side and continued to look over her. Alice shook her head and told him, "Don't answer that." Runo had stood up from her chair and was now flanking Alice's other side.

"Please, Alice. When will another human come along? It's been nearly ten years since the last one…And let's just say it didn't play out well for anybody….But please. You might be Wonderland's only hope right now," she pleaded. Alice thought for a moment. Did she really have it in her to help lead the people of Wonderland in a rebellion against their oppressor?

She could hardly get her own dog back home to follow her, so what made her think that fear-stricken people would? "I-I," she started but was cut off. Suddenly, the Cheshire Julie emerge from thin air, sweat dripping down her forehead. The silver-haired girl was panting as well.

"Quick, the Queen's Champion's coming this way. He's been ordered to search for Alice," she said between gasps of air. The Hatter's eyes widened upon hearing this news. "How did she find out?" Alice asked frantically. Dan suddenly grabbed onto Alice's arm and said, "There's no time. We've got to hide you."

* * *

_chapter title based off Tea Party by Kerli. _yay! two-part chapters! gotta love em. i actually wasnt planning on this chapter being this long. oh well. the more words, the better right? that way i'll get closer to archiving 2,000,000 words. i'm nearly there though! woo! Read and leave a review on the way out! ~Copperpelt~


	5. Eat Me, Drink Me

The Hatter had to act quick; they couldn't afford to lose their only hope at the moment. He knew that if the Queen's Champion found her, that would be the end of it. She would be taken to that vile witch and put on trial, where more than likely, the orange-haired girl would be killed. He grabbed her arm and pulled her over to one of the ends of the table and began to scan over the food. Alice was panicking.

"Where do I hide?" she asked frantically and started to dive under the tablecloth. The Hatter grabbed her and looked her sternly in the eyes. "Trust me. I'm going to make sure he doesn't find you." Alice gave him a single nod. She felt herself relax a bit, finding reassurance in the Hatter's words. But that still didn't change the fact that this malicious Champion was coming this way in search of her.

Dan went back to scanning over the baked goods spread out on the table. His finger hovered over them, as if he were trying to select the best looking item in front of him. Alice shook his shoulder and said, "Hatter! This is no time for finding a snack! You have to hide me!" she said to him, trying not to shout to loudly.

Dan then snatched up a small, pink pastry that reminded Alice of a Turkish Delight. A small tag hung from the item that read _'Eat Me.'_ Dan tossed it to Alice and told her, "Follow the instructions on the tag." All the orange-haired girl could do was stare at the Hatter in utter disbelief.

He really thought that food was the answer for the situation they were in? "Hatter-," she started, but he cut her. "Just do what it says! We don't have time!" he snapped. Alice flinched back at his sudden change in demeanor, and downed the pastry. It had a strange taste that she couldn't quite place.

Was is like a cream cheese Danish? Or perhaps a pie pf some sorts? The flavor was so peculiar and unique, kind of like the tea she drank earlier upon her arrival to this Mad party. "Ok, now what?" she asked, then realized something was different after she spoke.

Her voice was going up in pitch, as if she had been inhaling tiny bits of helium. The world around her also seemed to be growing larger, but it didn't take long for her to see that it wasn't the world that was changing; it was her. She was shrinking. Alice cried out in surprise.

"Hatter! What's happening!" she shouted as her height decreased further. Before she knew it, she couldn't have been any larger than a mouse. Alice looked up to see the Hatter and March Hare as humongous giants. "What did you do?" Alice shouted in a high-pitched voice.

Dan then reached down and carefully picked her up and gave her a quick apology for having to do this, then dropped her into a teapot. Alice fell to the pass of the kettle with a slight _thunk. _Darkness then encased her when the lid was closed on her, the only light finding its way in was through the spout.

She then felt the teapot be set down. When it did, she lost her balance and slid over to the other side, her body bumping into the wall of her new prison. Outside, she could hear voices. It was the Hatter's. He said, "Why, what brings the Queen's Champion to such a place on this fine day?"

Curious, Alice ran over to the spout and jumped into it and climbed up to the hole where the tea came out. She made sure that she stayed low enough so a wandering eye might not catch a glimpse of her. Her eyes then locked onto the Hatter. He was sitting back in his chair, casually sipping on tea.

In the seat next to him, was the March Hare and a still-sleeping Dormouse. _But where is the-, _Alice's thought was answered before she could complete it. Her eyes found, what only she could figure, was the Queen's Champion. She would have said he was tall, but in her current state, it was rather difficult to really tell.

Dark, jet black hair hung just above his shoulders, and his sharp amber eyes were scanning over the area. A cold, harsh aura hung in the air around him, radiating a feeling of danger and caution. Alice had to admit, he was intimidating, and she could see why this one person struck so much fear into the heart's of the people of Wonderland.

The Champion narrowed his eyes further at the Hatter and said flatly, "The Queen is looking for somebody. A human, to be exact. She sent me here first since she figured that you three never seem to be up to any good." Dan abruptly stood up and slammed his hands down on the table.

The shock nearly made Alice loose her hold on the spout that she was peering out of, but she hung on and continued to watch the events unfold. The Hatter placed a hand on his chest and said, "I'm appalled that the Queen would think such a thing. You know we still try our best to abide by her majesty's rules. Don't you think we'd turn a human in if we saw one?"

Runo chimed in and added, "Yeah. If we didn't, then it would surely be off with our heads. Not even us Mads want that." The Champion's expression didn't change or waver in the least bit. He glanced over his shoulder, and Knights, clad in crimson red armor, filed into the clearing.

"Then I'm sure you won't mind if the Knights and I check around here, right?" he asked coldly. Dan waved a nonchalant hand and said, "Be my guest. You won't find anything." Alice ducked down a bit more into the spout, only her eyes and the top of her head peeking out as she watched the Champion and Knights searched for her.

After a couple of minutes, the Champion did one final glance before saying, "This area is clear. Let's move on to the next location. Sorry to interrupt." He and the Knights started to go on their way, but one Knight paused for a moment. His eyes drifted over to the table, and Alice thought that he might have seen her.

The Knight walked up to the edge of the table, his eyes scanning over every square inch. Alice could feel her grip slipping on the tea spout as her palms became sweaty. Before anyone could blink, the Knight flipped the table over, sending food and teacups flying throughout the air; Alice and her teapot included.

Her hands slipped, causing her to fall back into the kettle. As it spun through the air, she was tumbled about, bumping into the rounded walls of the tea-holding contraption. She then felt it hit the ground, for her bouncing around in the teapot ceased. Feeling nauseous from the little 'ride' she just went on, Alice found her way back to the spout and stumbled out, where she fell onto her back.

The world, which was spinning at the moment, slowly came back into focus. She was now staring up at the sky and its dark clouds, which felt even more expansive now that she was of such a small size. Even the blades of grass around her were huge, making the ground seem like a forest itself.

A large hand then hovered over her and gently picked her up. Alice stood up on her feet, balancing carefully so as not to take a plunge to the ground below. She then found herself face-to-face with the Hatter. "Are you alright, dear Alice?" he asked, examining her shrunken body for any visible signs of injury.

Alice nodded and told him in a squeaky voice, "I'm fine. Just a bit shook up from the fall. Can you turn me back to normal now?" The Hatter snickered under his breath and said, "Silly, there's no such thing as normal here, remember?"

Alice narrowed her eyes and shouted at him, "Just turn me back to how I was before you made me eat that weird pastry!" The Hatter, still chuckling lightly, nodded and sat her down on the edge of the table. "Alright, alright. I'll be right back," he told her.

Alice sat on the white tablecloth, kicking her feet impatiently. She had her fill of being this size. It was rather inconvenient. Dan then returned with something held in his hand, and when he placed it before Alice, she found that it was a bottle, about the same size as she was; in Dan's hands, it looked like in normal relation to size, it might have been no larger than a small tack.

He told her, "Follow the instructions on the label." Alice held the bottle in her hand and flipped the tag over. It read _'Drink Me.' _Feeling a bit apprehensive about drinking this, considering the last time she followed the instructions on the tag, she shrunk to the size of a bug, she glanced up at the Hatter and asked him, "What will it do?"

But the Hatter didn't reply, and she figured that he either didn't hear her, or he was ignoring her. Alice sighed. "Well, I won't know what will happen until I drink this…So, down the hatch." She popped off the cap and drank the liquid.

It had a bitter, almost unpleasant taste that burned on the way down, much like the alcoholic beverages that some of her grandfather's clients drank sometimes. She shook her head from the bitterness. A bubbly sensation then began to rise up in her belly, and the world seemed like it was starting to shrink around her. But she knew better now. Within a matter of seconds, Alice was back to her previous height, perhaps even a few inches taller, thanks to the potent drink.

She then looked around for the Hatter, and found him picking up shards of broken teacups, a look of sadness on his face as he did so. "And this was my good China," he said with slight despair. The March Hare, Runo, had joined his side and was patting his back sympathetically.

"Sorry, Hatter," she said to him caringly. Alice felt a sense of guilt. It was because of her that the Hatter's tea set had been ruined. But then again, she had heard the Champion say that this was the first place that they decided to look at, since they always seemed to be up to no good.

So, perhaps it wouldn't have made a difference if Alice was there or not. Hatter stood up, wiping a tear from his eyes, then turned to face Alice. He told her, "It's not safe to stay here now. Those were the only Eat Me and Drink Me's that I had. I won't be able to hide you like that again if they come back. March, wake up Dormouse so we can get a move on, will ya?"

Runo gave him a single nod and ran over to Joe, who had somehow miraculously slept through all this. She was able to wake him, and the shaggy-haired boy looked around groggily, as if he were still asleep in a state of consciousness.

Alice ran up to the Hatter and asked him, "So, where are we going now?" Dan straightened his top hat and told her, "To an old, abandoned cottage nearby. I have a feeling that the Queen's Knights and Champion aren't going to check there." Alice tilted her head to the side and asked the Hatter, "Why won't they check there? Isn't someplace abandoned the best place for somebody hide? It's only logical."

She then stopped when she realized that she said logical in the most illogical of places in the universe. Runo smiled and told her, "Yeah, it would make sense to you, but here, nothing is supposed to make sense." Alice sighed. She was pretty sure now that she'd would never become accustom to the strange ways of Wonderland.

And if she did, then the real world would be just as strange. Dan, who was now supporting Joe, who had fallen back asleep, said, "Plus, there's a duo nearby that I believe we might be able to trust to help keep you and our plans secret." The Mad trio then left the site of the their destroyed tea party.

Alice stood there for a moment, wondering what kind of strange characters she was about to meet, and also debating on whether or not she did want to meet them. When she realized that the three were escaping her sight, Alice darted after them, leaving behind the wreckage of the tea party.

* * *

i just had to include to whole Eat Me and Drink Me thing in there. it wouldnt be Wonderland if it wasn't. :) this story is just doing so well with review, favorites, follows, and hits. it might even end up being one of my most popular. and i have my readers to thank. X') you guys really are the best. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	6. The Hatter's Secret Sorrow

Alice still felt a bit shaken up after her experience back at the Hatter's tea party. She had come rather close to being discovered by the Queen's Champion, but if it hadn't been for the Hatter's quick thinking, perhaps she would have been captured. Alice silently reminded herself to thank the Hatter again for keeping her safe, when he could have just as easily turned her over to the Champion to keep himself out of trouble.

But she was much to valuable to them now, as she had found out earlier. The three Mads; Dan, Runo, and Joe, had volunteered her to be the spearhead of a rebellion that they had been too powerless to create up until her arrival. Alice still wasn't too sure about this; she was no leader.

A follower described her better than somebody who told others what to do, and that was how she liked it. But after arriving in Wonderland, she had discovered that not everything was the same as it was back in the real world. Here, up was down, and down was sideways, if one wanted it to be.

She still wasn't sure what she wanted this world to be to her. It was all still too foreign and alien to her to fully accept as a reality, but perhaps she was coming around, for she felt herself embracing this place with each passing second; Wonderland might even feel like a second home to her soon enough.

"We're here," the Hatter said, his voice shattering her deep thoughts. She looked up and saw an old, raggedy house in the middle of a clearing. This house was surrounded by rather menacing trees and brambles, and shadows crept over every inch that they could touch.

This house didn't look like something that should have belonged in Wonderland, a place of such vibrant colors and lively people. But perhaps it was more of a reflection of the doom and gloom that had so many of the residents in its deadly grip. This house, was nothing more than a personification of all the darkness and fear that was cast over this vast land.

The Hatter and his fellow Mad friends moved past Alice and headed towards the ominous house. Alice stood still in her place for a moment, unsure if this house really could provide them with a safe haven from the Queen's vicious Champion. "Are you coming, Miss Alice?" Runo the March Hare asked her in a concerned voice.

Alice shook herself back to her senses and ran up next to the bluenette and told her, "Yeah, just examining the surroundings. They're very….Different from the rest of Wonderland." Alice felt a quick, icy chill shoot through her arms as she approached the house.

Runo smiled kindly at Alice and said, "Yeah, I have to agree. This place carries a rather displeasing air in it. Maybe it has to do with the fact that this was where the Queen's tyranny began." Runo's smile vanished with that being said. She then shook her head and told Alice with seriousness in her voice, "Don't worry about it. Nothing here will hurt you, or anyone else."

Alice felt that the March Hare's words were true, so she pushed down the chill that still lingered throughout her body and crossed the threshold of the old house. Inside, layers of dust covered every square inch of the household, even the ceiling. With their entrance, some of the dust became disturbed and floated through the air like fairies, or perhaps ghosts would be more adequate, seeing as how this was the origin of all the Queen's evil deeds.

Joe the Dormouse, who had been fighting off sleep since leaving the location of the tea party, hurried towards a dust-covered couch and laid down, where he promptly closed his eyes and drifted off to what appeared to be a peaceful sleep.

Alice only wished that she could find peace of mind so easily, for it would have felt wonderful to escape some of the crazy things that were going on now. The Hatter strode over to, what must have been a kitchen, and opened an old cabinet. Inside, metal racks lined the container, and Alice quickly realized that it was an icebox.

Dan frowned and said, "Not even a moldy crumb. Figures." Alice cocked an eyebrow up. The Hatter really thought he'd find food in a place like this? Perhaps these three were more messed up in the head than Alice thought them to be. The Hatter slammed the icebox closed and took a seat on the kitchen counter, sending waves of dust into the air.

Alice covered her face to keep from breathing in the particles. Dan sat there for a moment, eyes scanning over the abandoned house, then sighed. Alice had noticed that the Hatter had seemed a bit tense since leaving the wreckage that was his tea party, and she figured it was because some of his precious Chinaware had been shattered.

But now that she examined him a bit more closely, she was starting to have second doubts. Alice started to open her mouth to ask the Hatter what was troubling him, but her words never had the chance to escape before a loud banging came at the door.

Her first thought was that it was the Queen's Champion, and that they had found their hideout. But when the door wasn't busted down, curiosity settled in and took the place of fear. The Hatter craned his neck out a bit and said, "Come in. It's unlocked."

The door then flew open, and two things came rolling into the house, stirring up even more dust. They stopped, but Alice couldn't make anything out about them though the dust, other than they were round in shape. Then, as the dust settled, she saw that the round objects unfolded and revealed themselves to be not objects, but people.

Short people, at that. They both looked alike, except for the clothes they wore, and were almost perfectly round like the moon. Red, rosy cheeks accented their faces. The Hatter motioned towards the two, chubby fellows and said, "These are the two I mentioned earlier before we left. I'd like you to meet Tweedle-Dee, and Tweedle-Dum."

They both raised a chubby hand at the same time and said simultaneously, "Greetings." One of them then turned to the Hatter and said in a gruff voice, "We saw you passing through the forest and remembered what you told us a long time ago, that if you did come this way, to meet up with you here."

The other, who Alice could not tell if he was the Dee or the Dum, added in, "This can only mean that it's time for your plan to go into action, right, Hatter?" Dan gave a single nod, his expression never really changing from one of seriousness; it was strange seeing the Hatter so stern, when moments ago, Alice had seen him as this charismatic figure.

He said to the two bulbous people, "Yes. Our plan to overthrow the Queen is coming to light, and you can thank her for allowing this to happen." The Hatter pointed over to Alice, and Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum looked at her. "Her? What's so special about her?" they asked in unison while examining her with narrowed eyes.

Runo interjected herself into the conversation and told them, "She's from the world above." Their eyes went from scrutinizing to filled with awe. "A human, you say?" they said with a gasp. Alice, feeling a bit put on the spot, nodded nervously.

"Yes. I've been told it's rather a rarity when a human comes here, and that it's also a very big deal." Alice thought about the Queen's policy that stated that when a human was discovered in Wonderland, they were to be taken to her, and would most likely end up being executed. She shuddered at the thought of being killed just because she was a so-called threat to this Queen.

Before she knew just how powerful a human could be in this place, she wouldn't have even considered fighting against the Queen. In fact, she might have done everything in her power to stay out of the Queen's way. Alice didn't want any trouble, and yet, it had found its way to her anyway.

Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum ran up in front of Alice and, without looking away, asked the Hatter, "Are you sure she can help us take down the Queen? She doesn't look very threatening." For some reason, Alice took slight offense to this, even though she probably shouldn't have.

Maybe she took it the wrong way because she had just been told that she was strong and able to change things here, and now, she was being called weak. The Hatter, arms crossed over his chest, gazed at something in the house and said, "The last human that came here didn't look that menacing either, but looks can be deceiving."

Alice thought she saw the two plump people let out a shudder when the Hatter said this. But the mentioning of this other human that came to Wonderland, which she had heard snippets of several times, had her curiosity stirred once more. Everyone she had encountered thus far had made some kind of mention of this mystery human, and Alice couldn't help but wonder who they were and what had become of them.

The way they spoke of this person, it was pretty obvious that they hadn't been killed by the Queen. Odds were, they were still alive. "But that's besides the point. When asked you to meet me here, it was because I'd require supplies to get this mission started," the Hatter said flatly, causing Alice's thoughts to be torn back to the current conversation on hand.

Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum glanced at each other and said in unison, "What kind of supplies, Hatter?" Dan took of his top hat and ran a hand through his shaggy hair, letting out a rather long sigh. "I need anything you can get me. And if you have anymore Eat Me or Drink Me's, then that would be fantastic," he said to them.

The duo bit down on their lower lips and informed Dan, "Sorry, Hatter. But you know that when the Queen started her reign of terror she took nearly every Eat Me and Drink Me in the people's possession. We haven't had any of those for well over three years. In fact, we don't have much of our previous stock. The Queen has been constantly investigating our supplies and started taking away anything that might prove a threat to her. We've come down to nothing more than just a few crates of food, and we have a feeling she might take that soon enough. Again, we're sorry, Hatter."

Dan sighed again and waved his hand nonchalantly. "I understand. Listen, it's getting dark outside. Go back to your home now and come back here in the morning. I would offer you to stay here, but with the Queen's Champion roaming about, I have a feeling he might check your house soon enough, and I don't want to cause you two anymore trouble."

Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum gave a single nod and told Dan when they would return tomorrow. Then, without another word, the duo left the ramshackle house, disturbing a bit more dust on the way out. The Hatter then narrowed his eyes and told us, "I'm going out for some air."

Dan then turned on his heel and exited the house. Alice frowned and turned to Runo. "I noticed he seemed a bit uptight since we arrived here. It isn't because of me, is it? Did I do something to anger him or cause him grief?" she asked the bluenette, who was drawing shapes in the dust.

A solemn look appeared on the March Hare's face as she looked up from her artwork to Alice. "No, you didn't do anything to cause him trouble. It's this place….It's not good for him….Filled with many bad memories," she said grimly. Alice felt her curiosity pique.

"Bad memories? What happened here?" she asked, eager to get a bit of an insight to the Hatter. Runo glanced around the house, perhaps to make sure Dan wasn't around, and said in a hushed voice, "This used to be his house. When the Queen began her cruel reign, she targeted this place first because she knew the Hatters knew everyone in Wonderland, and that they might cause her problems. She had her Champion kill everyone here, except for one, who she wanted to keep alive as an example to strike fear into others…..That one was Dan. From there, the Queen ordered him to be cast out as a Mad so he would be avoided by others in Wonderland…."

Alice tried to picture Dan standing there, watching at the Champion of the Queen slaughtered his loved ones. It left a foul taste in Alice's mouth. "I see now….Why he wants to get rid of the Queen so badly that he's willing to risk everything," Alice said, her voice almost void of emotion now.

She still couldn't understand how the Queen, or anyone for that matter, could be so cruel. She then thought back to when the Queen's Champion had interrupted the tea party in search of her, and how the Hatter had acted like himself around the murderer that killed his family.

How hard had it been for Dan to stand there and act as if everything was alright? How had he been able to push aside those horrid memories of his family's death? Alice knew that if she had been in Dan's place, she wouldn't have been able to control herself. She would have tried to kill that Champion to get revenge.

She would have wanted to make him suffer as he had made her. And when Alice realized how much strength it must have taken the Hatter to hold back those feelings of hatred and pain, she couldn't help but marvel and respect Dan's willpower. Although, she had a feeling that revenge would have its day. And that day was steadily approaching, with bloodshed that would surely follow.

* * *

I'M BACK! i'm so sorry for not updating! my computer crashed a couple weeks ago and we just got it back yesterday. trust me, i didn't forget anyone here. i checked regularly on my phone whenever i could to keep my eyes open for updates and new stories. it just isnt the same as the website itself. i'm happy to be back and writing again. enjoy! please leave a review on the way out! ~Copperpelt~


	7. Into A Dark Past

_~O~_

The Hatter stood outside of what used to be his childhood home. Returning here had pained him the moment he left the tea party. But the things that happened here would have had this magnitude of an effect on anyone if they had lived through what he had.

Dan let out a sigh, and his breath turned visible in the cool night air. Around him, the surrounding forest was much darker and maleficent than it had been before that day of slaughter. Perhaps nature took on the storm of emotions that swirled throughout the Hatter and had manifested them into this chapel of darkness.

Dan turned around and glanced back at the wooden exterior of the house. The boards that shielded it from the elements outside were starting to warp from not being looked after for all these years. Spider webs clung in the corners of the warped boards, making use of the abandoned home.

"At least something is still enjoying this old place," Dan said to himself. Some people might have thought him crazy to come back to a place that brought so much pain with it, but this was what the Hatter wanted. This was where it had all started, and it was also where he wanted it all to end.

When he told Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum to come her if they saw him walking through the forest, he had explained to them that when that day came, the days of the Queen would be numbered, for they would finally have a chance to take her down.

Dan wanted this house to be turned into a symbol of hope and the cornerstone of an uprising. He wanted to turn it from something that struck fear into the people of Wonderland, to something that they could turn to and see that they had more power than they thought.

But at the moment, the old house was still a reminder of the Queen's wrath, and that was how she intended to make it stay. She wanted to make sure that everyone knew that what took place here, was only the beginning of her true reign. And it had done a good job thus far.

Whenever this place was mentioned to somebody, many would shudder, and their eyes would fill with fear. It saddened the Hatter to know that just by slaughtering his family, the Queen had accumulated so much power over the people. Everyone lived in fear of her….No.

When the Hatter thought about it, they didn't live in fear of the Queen; they lived in fear of her Champion. Dan's jaw tightened into a scowl. The Queen's Champion had been the one she sent to kill his family. If the Hatter recalled correctly, it had been the first mission that her Champion was sent on, most likely to test how strong his loyalty would be in the long run.

But remembering that it had been the Champion that killed his family, still left a foul taste in Dan's mouth, for not only had blood been shed that night, but also betrayal. And he still remembered that name of the one who betrayed him; Shun, the Queen's Champion.

It sickened Dan to think that to this day, somebody that he might at one time referred to as a friend, could have turned around and cold-heartedly killed the ones that he held dear to him. Yes, the Hatter knew the Queen's Champion back then, but it was way before Shun even associated himself with the Queen.

Dan still remembered that day rather well, when that human stumbled into Wonderland all those years ago. The Hatter had found him shortly after the boy's arrival. It was obvious that the human had been scared and utterly lost in Wonderland; then again, who wouldn't be if one had never known of such a world to exist?

But the Hatter had allowed the human to take refuge with him as a means of protection from the Queen, who had just created her rule about bringing humans to her. During this time, he learned more about their human guest. Things like how he found Wonderland, and what his name was.

_Shun, _the Hatter thought to himself. The name still brought a boiling anger up at the core of his being. Dan had kept Shun hidden from the Queen, making sure that patrols of Knights didn't find him. He had offered the human a place to stay while he was in Wonderland.

But apparently it hadn't been enough. Dan didn't know what exactly happened that day. All he knew was that Shun had left from the safe haven that the Hatter had provided, and that was that. The next time he saw him, it was after he had slaughtered the Hatter's family before his very eyes.

That was also when he discovered that Shun had created an allegiance with the Queen as her Champion, and that this was what was asked of him. Dan remembered he had searched the human's eyes for any sign of remorse or regret, but he didn't see anything.

They were cold, and that was it. Nothing else. Dan had been spared that day, but only as an example of how serious the Queen was. After word spread around Wonderland about what happened, the fear started to take its hold. And shortly after that, Dan was cast out as Mad so nobody would associate themselves with him.

It had been cruel punishment, and there were many days when he wished that he hadn't been spared. And before Alice had shown up, he was about to give up on his hopes of ever taking down the Queen and her regime. Then she showed up, their one and only hope.

If a human had been able to send Wonderland into a spiraling decline, then perhaps one could also reverse the effects. It made sense, when one thought about it. The Queen feared humans enough to have them killed if they showed up in Wonderland.

Obviously, they had some kind of powerful quality if they struck that much fear into that cold-hearted witch. Dan leaned against the warped siding of his old home and tilted his head up to look at the night sky. The dark clouds that had taken up residency when the Queen's dark reign began, blocked out the moon that used to provide Wonderland with light at night.

Now, it was always left in darkness. To his left, he heard the sound of the door clicking open, and he glanced over and saw Alice step out. She rubbed the sides of her arms as the cold air nipped at her exposed skin. "There you are, Hatter. We were wondering if you were going to come in anytime soon. It's getting rather late and cold out here," she said and breathed into her hands to warm them up.

The cold didn't really bother the Hatter all that much; he had grown rather accustomed to it. Alice sighed and took a step closer to Dan. "I know it must be hard for you to be back here, seeing as all that went on here, but please do come inside. I'm sure the others will worry about you," she said softly and placed a gentle hand on the Hatter's arm. "How did you find out about what happened here?" he asked, but already had a good idea.

Alice smiled sadly and told him, "Runo informed me." The Hatter had figured right. It had been after he was cast out as a Mad that he found Runo and Joe. They three had teamed up together and became rather good friends, but Dan never told either of them the whole truth about the slaughter that took place inside of the wooden walls of this house.

He only told them that it had been the Champion that killed his family; not that he had considered himself friends with the Champion, or tried to protect him from the Queen. He never told his friends this because he feared what they might think, or that they would somehow blame him for causing all the pain that had washed over Wonderland.

They were irrational fears, but they still were possibilities in the Hatter's eyes. Dan smiled slightly and told Alice, "Runo never was one to keep her mouth shut." He then found himself laughing at what he hadn't intended to be a funny joke, but it lightened his darkening mood.

Alice let out her own giggle and said, "She does seem like the kind that likes to talk, doesn't she?" Their laughter died down after a few more seconds passed. "So, are you coming back in?" Alice ask while pointing to the house. Dan hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Yeah, I'll be in in a minute."

This was enough for Alice to hear, for she gave him a single nod and stepped back into the house, allowing him the minute alone that he spoke of. The Hatter stood there and couldn't help but think that Alice might really be what would bring Wonderland out of its dark times.

If she was able to just speak to him and lift his spirits that had been drowned in sorrow, then there was no telling what else she could do for them. A minute or so passed, and Dan gathered his thoughts and put them in order before stepping through the threshold of his old house.

No, this was no longer his house, for his house held all those dark and terrible memories of betrayal. He was leaving that behind. This place now was the symbol of hope that everyone so desperately needed, and the only memories that would fill the walls would be ones of the better times to come.

* * *

_~O~_

Shun returned to the Queen's palace, the Knights of the Heart following behind him. They had found no sign of their human intruder, and he knew that the Queen would not be pleased with this news. The Champion broke off from the group of Knights and stood before the Queen's throne room.

It was he who always delivered news to her, unless she asked otherwise. He knocked two times and the twin doors, which were crimson red and adorned with hearts, slowly swung open. Inside, the Queen sat regally on her throne, a look of slight boredom on her face.

But her boredom faded when she caught sight of him, and she stood from her chair. "Please, do come in," she beckoned to him, "tell me how the search is going? Any sign of the human?" Shun strode across the throne room and knelt down before the Queen, placing a fisted hand over his heart.

With his head still bowed down, he told her, "We searched most of the Southern Quadrant today, and saw no traces of a human's presence. We also interrogated many of the people in that area to see if they may have been hiding our intruder. They all claimed not to have seen a human."

Shun remained there in his kneeling position, and heard the clicking of the Queen's shoes as she approached him. Now, he was staring at the crimson red high heels that adorned her feet. "Stand up," she said shortly. He did as she asked of him and met her gaze.

Her green eyes were narrowed at him when she said, "I am not pleased to hear that you have come up empty handed." Shun refrained from sighing, and instead, replied, "I know you aren't pleased to hear any of this, but it is one human in the vast area of Wonderland. It will take some time to locate them, especially if somebody has hidden them. But fear not, we will find this human and bring them to you, you majesty."

The Queen's narrowed eyes slowly adjusted back to normal, and she turned on her heels, sending the skirt of her red dress into a spin that reminded the Champion of blood-splatter. "Don't let me down, my Champion. You are dismissed," she said with her back still turned to him.

He did a slight bow and said, "Yes, your majesty." Shun turned around and left the throne room and began to return to his own quarters. Like most of the rooms in the palace, it was decorated in crimson red, but in his, there were accents of white.

The Champion found it somewhat that the color red struck some fear into the people of Wonderland, but white left them trembling. Shun sat down on the edge of his bed, enjoying the cool touch of the silk blankets. But the feeling was short-lived as they adjusted to his body temperature.

He then laid back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling of his room, and thought about his encounter with the Hatter. Shun hadn't wanted to go there, but it was a given that the Mads would have to be investigated first, seeing as they might want to cause harm to the Queen.

When Shun saw the Hatter, a wave of memories that he had longed pushed away returned to him. He remembered the night where he had to go to that house and kill all but one; who he left alive, was entirely up to the Champion. Shun decided to spare Dan as a means of repaying him for all the help that the Hatter had offered him upon his arrival to Wonderland.

But after that, the Champion wondered if that was the best choice. He still remembered the look of betrayal in the Hatter's eyes, and if anything, Shun deserved that look. He had turned against somebody that had offered him safety from the vial witch that was the Queen, and he had been forced to take everything away from that friend.

The only thing good that came out of that night, was the Shun realized that he had made the wrong choice. He realized that following that White Rabbit and leaving the Hatter's home was the worst thing he could have done, for that Rabbit led him to the Queen's palace, where he was captured.

But the Queen hadn't shown any sign of wanting to kill him, and she made herself out to not be as bad as everyone said she was. Although, this was way before she had Shun as her Champion, so her true reign could not begin yet. She had offered Shun an ultimatum; he could serve her as her Champion and live a luxurious life with no chance of being executed as previous humans, or he could deny the offer and be killed on the spot.

Like any sane person, Shun chose to live and become her Champion. But as the years went on, he really began to wonder if there was any difference in death or serving the Queen. As far as he was concerned, it had killed who he used to be, and that was worse than death.

* * *

it feels so good to write again. you all have no idea. i was like, going through detox and all that stuff. o.o well, read and leave a review on the way out!


	8. Killing With Curiosity

_~O~_

Shun slowly opened his eyes, finding them still staring up at the ceiling of his bedroom. They remained locked on the ornate patterns that created more of a work of art, than that of something that provided use. "Another day," he said with a heavy sigh and sat up, running his hands through his short black hair in a haphazard attempt to fix the mess that had been created during his sleep.

It wasn't until he lowered his hand away from his head, did he realize that it was trembling. Scowling, he placed his hands beside him and grabbed a handful of the silk sheets to try and get the shaking to stop. He knew why he was like this; it had been the dream he had last night.

He had had the dream on several occasions before, but they were few and far between. But for some reason, they were becoming more frequent than usual. They all ended the same; with him almost meeting his death, but waking up shortly before his life was taken away.

He gripped the silken sheets tighter in his hands. Most people would be thankful that a dream where they died ended, but not Shun. It was more like a sick joke whenever that dream ended, for all he wanted was it all to end. He knew that death would be his only escape from the life that he had chosen all those years ago.

But in the dream, it was always somebody different that was trying to kill him. When they first started to occur, it had been the Queen trying to put an end to him. Those hadn't bothered him, for at the time, he had been rather pleased to be in her services.

That changed after she started her reign, as did the dreams. The Queen was no longer his attacker from there on out. Instead, it had been his old friend, the Hatter. Compared to the Queen in his dreams, the way the Hatter tried to kill him was ruthless and savage.

Shun wouldn't have expected anything else from the person who he took an entire family from and ruined an entire life. In fact, Shun wondered on several occasions if the Hatter was acting savage enough while trying to kill him in the Champion's dreams. Other people had occupied Shun's dreams as well; mainly those that he had recently been sent out after and ordered to kill by the Queen.

They always seemed to reappear in that dream, seeking revenge. But this time, Shun didn't know who it was in his dream this time. The person had been nothing more than a blacked-out silhouette that was wielding a sword. There was something that had also grabbed his attention before he woke up and returned to the realm of the conscious.

Shun had noticed that when his attacker drew back to attack again and finish him off, there had been tears that escaped from the figure's unknown face and flew through the air. This puzzled Shun. Somebody that was trying to kill him actually felt some kind of guilt about it?

As far as he knew, everyone in Wonderland would have only cried tears of joy if they knew that he was gone. But even though the figure was nothing more than a silhouette, he could somehow tell that those were tears of sadness and guilt.

They weren't like the tears that the Hatter shed while in Shun's dream; those had been tears of relief in knowing that justice had been brought down. Shun knew now that this dream was going to bother him until he either figured it out or completely forgot about it. A knock came at the door.

The Champion glanced up and said, "Come in." One of the Queen's servants nervously peered her head into the room. "Uh, the Queen has requested your presence, sir," she stammered out. Shun gave her a single nod and replied, "Tell her I'll be there in a moment."

The servant nodded and hurried out of the room, almost forgetting to close to door behind her. Shun stood up and made his way over to where he had placed his uniform before going to bed. He slipped into the white outfit adorned with red accents here and there.

The uniform provided him with less protection than that of the other Knights, making it to where it wouldn't have to take much to kill or injure him. But he had no need for such armor; he was too skilled to allow a single attack to ever hit him. Shun turned and looked at himself in the mirror.

He used to like the way he looked in the uniform of the Queen's Champion, but now, it just felt as though he were wearing somebody else's skin, someone else's identity. He adjusted the collar on his uniform, seeing that it appeared to be a bit off center, and left out of his room to take up an audience with the Queen.

* * *

_~O~_

The Queen woke rather early that morning, but felt rested nonetheless. She sat up in her oversized bed and stretched her arms far above her head. When she lowered them back down, she let out a sigh of content. The window beside her bed had been opened, allowing the curtains to wave about in the room like ghosts.

Fabia swung her legs around and placed her bare feet on the cold marble floor, then strode over to the window to gaze out. Before her, was all the rightfully belonged to her; Wonderland. Dark gray clouds loomed out over the distance, appearing that they might finally let loose rain that they always threatened to hold.

A slight grin formed on her lips. She had worked hard to obtain all of this. Wonderland hadn't always just been hers, she had shared it at one point. The person whom she ruled with had been her husband, Jin. He ruled rather well in her eyes, but he was not strict enough, as she had put it one time when he was debating on what to do with some ruffians that were causing trouble in one of the Quadrant.

In Fabia's opinion, Wonderland had been spiraling into chaos when her husband reigned alongside her. So, she had started to rule behind his back and in the shadows whenever she could, changing his policies and making them as she saw fit. But then came the day that he found out and confronted her about it.

She still remembered that conversation very well. She had been in the throne room, overlooking Wonderland and thinking that it would be so much better off with her making the rules. Jin had come up behind her, his footsteps pounding heavily on the marble floors, which told her that he was angry.

"Fabia!" he shouted and sent his voice echoing throughout the throne room. Without turning away from the window, she replied calmly, "Yes, Jin?" He stepped up behind her and grabbed onto her shoulder to turn her around to face him. Fabia recalled the furious expression that he wore.

"How dare you go and make such cruel laws behind my back. Not only are they unethical and unfair, but it also appalls me that you would just do something like this behind my back! We rule this land together, not as separate units. You have to understand this, Fabia! If you wish to make an adjustment to some of the policies, tell me, but don't go behind my back and make such drastic changes!"

Every eye in that throne room had fallen onto them, and a tense silence clung in the air. Jin ran a hand through his short hair and paced back and forth in front of Fabia, who was standing still and calm. "You aren't fit to rule Wonderland," Fabia suddenly said, an eerie flatness in her voice.

This cause Jin to stop his pacing. He looked up to her and said, "What? Fabia, what are you talk-" Before he could finish his question, Fabia had lunged towards a Knight standing a few feet from her and snatched a crimson-handled dagger from the Knight's hilt.

Then, in one fluid motion, she brought the dagger around and embedded it deep within Jin's chest; within her _husband's _chest. He cried out in pain for a short moment, then dropped to the floor, staining the marble floors with thick, dark blood. The knife still protruded from his chest.

All the eyes in the room had fallen on the King's lifeless body in shock. Fabia stood over his, hands clutched into fists and eyes wild. Her red dress was stained darker with his blood. She stepped back and examined her work at hand, then smiled deviously and walked back to the throne that used to belong to Jin. She sat down in it and said to the surprise-stricken Knights and servants in the room.

"Listen up! Wonderland is now under my full control! And if anyone dares to stand up to me, then off with their head!" she bellowed, her voice carrying far beyond the walls of the throne room. The room suddenly filled with inaudible whispers as Knights and servants discussed what happened, but they quickly came to a silence. The Knights of the Heart approached the throne and knelt before Fabia and fisted their hands over their hearts as a salute to their new leader.

And that was when her reign began. It began with blood, and was still going with blood. But that was several years ago, long before she even had Shun as her Champion. There had been times recently that she wondered if it would have been easier in quicker to kill her husband if she had had her Champion at the time.

Surely, he would have killed Jin if Fabia had told him to, for that would have been an order that he couldn't have denied, thanks to their Oath. "If only he had followed that White Rabbit sooner," she mused aloud. Her smile then vanished as an idea came to mind.

That was how Shun had fallen into her possession; he had followed the White Rabbit to her palace out of curiosity. The Queen then began to wonder if she could repeat that event in order to lure out the human that was now hiding in Wonderland. Fabia quickly slipped into a crimson red dress and hurried to the throne room, the long skirt of her dress dragging along behind her.

When she reached her throne room, she swung open the doors and shouted, "Bring me the White Rabbit! Now!" Several Knights nodded and ran off to locate where the small child was hiding this time. It didn't take more than a few minutes before her request was fulfilled.

The two Knights were escorting the White Rabbit into the room. When the short, blonde boy's eyes fell on the Queen, he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, you asked for me?" Fabia smiled and motioned for her guest to follow her. "Marucho, do come and walk with me for a bit. I have a task to ask of you," she beckoned with a smile.

Marucho, formally known as the White Rabbit, followed after the Red Queen. "Yes? Do you have another errand for me today, your Majesty?" he asked calmly. Fabia's lips curved into a devious grin. "In fact, I do. You recall when my Champion followed you here out of curiosity all those years ago?" she asked.

Marucho nodded and said, "How can I forget? Following me is what caused him to be captured, and if he had not been captured, then he would have never become your Champion, and there's no telling where we'd all be now if that had not happened." The Queen's smile waned a bit as Marucho rambled on about alternate outcomes.

The White Rabbit was a bit too analytical for her taste, and he sometimes got on her nerves, but he served a very important purpose to her whenever she needed a mundane task done quickly and right. The Queen cleared her throat and said, "Well, I need you to repeat that event. You are to travel across Wonderland as if you were running an errand for me. And hopefully, your appearance will gather the attention of a human that is hiding somewhere out there, and they will do like my Champion did all those years ago and fall right into my hands."

Marucho stopped and tapped an index finger on his chin. "So, you're going to use me as bait and lure this human out?" he asked, making sure that he understood the plan to its full extent. Fabia nodded and told him, "And make quick work of it to. I want this human in my hands by no later than two days time, understood, White Rabbit?"

The short blonde nodded and said, "I won't be late, your Majesty." He then ran out of the palace to take out her request. Fabia stood there and smiled, then turned on her heels and started to head back to her throne room. She assumed her place on the throne that she obtained through murder and told a servant standing in the corner of the room, "Bring my Champion to me. I need to fill him in on my plan."

The servant left the throne room, and a moment later, returned with the Queen's Champion following behind. He knelt before her and placed a fisted hand over his heart. "You called for me, your highness?" Fabia crossed her legs while sitting in the throne and smiled.

"Yes. I have a new request for you. The Knights of the Heart will go and search for the human on their own. You, on the other hand, will go and follow the White Rabbit, whom I just sent out on an errand. Is this clear?" She could see the confusion on her Champion's face, but decided just to leave her instructions as an enigma to him.

He finally nodded and said, "Understood, your highness." Shun stood up and exited the throne room to go and catch up with the White Rabbit, no questions asked. Fabia found herself giggling a bit.

She had a feeling her plan would work out, for if there was one thing she had learned about humans, it was that they were very curious beings, and that that curiosity could be exploited for weakness.

* * *

beh. i can't wait for spring break. a whole week of doing nothing but getting up and writing early and then doing more nothing. it's paradise :) please, leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	9. More Than Meets The Eye

_~O~_

Alice was the first to wake up that morning. Around her, the rest of the Mads were still sound asleep, obviously somewhere far off in the depths of their dreams and enjoying every minute of it. She smiled slightly at the peacefulness that graced their faces; seeing such serenity was almost a rarity in Wonderland, from what she had gathered thus far.

Alice sat up from the couch that she sought refuge on for the night, and dust dirtied her purple dress. Normally, she would have seriously cared about the condition of her clothes, but that would have to wait till she found a way out of Wonderland.

But that time was a long time away, for she had been placed in a position of importance; she was to help lead a rebellion against the Red Queen. This still left a dry feeling in her mouth. How in world was she possibly to accomplish such a task? She was only one person.

Surely she couldn't make that big of a difference, no matter how hard she tried. _I have to give it my all, though. Everyone here is depending on me, _she told herself sternly. The Hatter and his friends had reached out to her for help, and she couldn't turn them away, not after all they had done for her.

They saved her from the Queen's Champion, and that alone was something she might not ever be able to repay them for. Alice pushed herself off of the old couch and padded her way towards one of the windows that lined the wall.

It was caked with dust to the point that she couldn't see a single thing through the glass panes. She lifted one of her gloved hands and wiped the glass, smudging the dust around. A tiny spot was cleaned away to where she could just barely see through it, but her glove showed evidence of what kind of grime had been on the window previously.

The white silk that made up the glove, now had a black impurity absorbed into the material. Alice scowled, knowing that the glove was ruined, but ignored it after that. She then turned her attention back to the window. Leaning forward, she peered through the spot that she cleaned off.

Outside, she saw the dark forest that surrounded the old house that was their hideout. During the day and when things were a tad bit brighter, it didn't appear all that scary. It was still rather intimidating, but it was nowhere near as terrifying as it had been when they arrived late in the evening the day before.

Although, she could tell that an ominous air still hung about through those trees, for everyone knew what kind of horrible things happened in this house so many years ago. It had been the March Hare, Runo, who had brought some light to what kind of atrocities transpired within the confines of these walls.

The Hatter's family had been killed here, right before his very eyes, and by the Queen's Champion. After that, Alice had stepped outside and gone in search for the Hatter. When she found him, she explained that Runo had told her what happened.

The Hatter hadn't mentioned anything about it though, and that caused Alice to wonder if there was something deeper to Dan's story. But she didn't have to strength to ask him and possibly put him through some old grief that he had been fighting, so she left it at that.

Alice stepped away from the window and turned back to look at the area where her new friends were still sleeping. Runo had claimed one of the extra couches as her own, Dan had made himself comfortable in a swing-back chair, and Joe, well, Joe had made himself right at home on the dusty floor.

The peaceful silence was then broken by a knock at the door, which was performed in a rhythmic pattern. The knocking caused Runo and Dan to stir, but not Joe; Alice began to wonder if anything ever caused the Dormouse to wake up, or if he just chose when he wanted to.

The knock sounded again, this time a bit louder. Dan stared at the door for a moment, then his eyes widened. "That must be Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum," he stated and hurried over to the door, where he proceeded to open it just enough to peer outside. The Hatter then opened it the rest of the way and allowed the two short characters inside the house.

One of the duo stepped forward, whether it was Dee or Dum, Alice wasn't sure. He then said to the Hatter, "I'm sorry we couldn't be any earlier. The Cheshire gave us a hint that she saw the Queen's Knights on the move again. Although, she did add in something else that was rather peculiar…."

The Hatter raised up an eyebrow and said, "Something else? Like what?" The other half of the Tweedle duo stepped forward and told us, "She mentioned that the Queen's Champion was not accompanying the Knights this time. It's a bit odd, when you think about it, but probably nothing major."

Runo crossed her arms over her chest and said flatly, "It is a bit unsettling knowing that the Champion isn't with the search party….Kind of makes me wonder what he's up to." The Hatter waved his hand about in a nonchalant manner and said, "Regardless, this makes the Knights of the Heart a lot less dangerous if he really isn't there. I say we take advantage of that."

There was a small chorus of agreements that rose from the group. Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum strode over to the remains of the kitchen and placed a medium-sized duffle bag on the table, which Alice was sure would have broken underneath any weight that was placed on it.

But much to her surprise, the table held. "We brought some of what you asked for though," the duo said in unison. Dan joined them at the table and rummaged around through the bag. As he did so, one of the short, round people said, "There probably isn't anything in there that will help you achieve your goal, Hatter, but it's all that we could bring you."

The Hatter placed things beside the bag as he pulled them out, examining each item first. Nothing seemed to stir his interest, and Alice felt that all that Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum had brought them really was worthless. But suddenly, the Hatter's demeanor changed when he came to one item in particular.

He slowly pulled out a piece of folded paper and stared at he, then turned and faced Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked, waving the piece of folded paper in front of them. The short duo nodded and said together, "It is. One of the last ones left in Wonderland that doesn't belong to the Queen."

Dan tossed the duffle bag and items onto the floor and carefully placed the paper on the table, gingerly unfolded it as if it would fall to pieces right in front of him. Curious, Alice joined the Hatter's side and saw that the paper was blank.

She furrowed her brows and said, "What is so special about this? It's just paper. Don't tell me paper is a rarity here." She then noticed a mischievous smile on the Hatter's lips. He glanced over at her and said, "This isn't just any piece of paper."

Alice felt herself grow even more confused. Dan reached over into the scattered items on the floor, and pulled out one candlestick and match. He struck the match and caused a flame to burst to life on the end. He then transferred the fire over to the candle, causing the wick to light.

"Runo, do me a favor and hold the candle right here," he told the March Hare. She nodded and held the base of the candle right where the Hatter had told her. Alice sat by and watched, utterly confused by all that she was seeing. Dan grabbed the blank piece of paper and held it above the dancing flame of the candle, just out of the fire's reach.

Then, ever so slowly, patterns began to form on the paper. It was like watching an artist paint, but his progress and steps were sped up to create a finished product quicker. It took Alice a moment to see what was forming on the paper. "A map?" she asked, seeing the compass rose at the bottom corner.

The Hatter smiled and said, "Yes, a map of Wonderland, to be exact. The Queen took them all and burned them a while back as a precaution to make sure nobody tried to plan a well-detailed attack on her." It made a bit of sense to Alice; how could one launch an attack, if nobody knew exactly where to go?

And if maps had been destroyed in Wonderland years ago, then Alice also figured that not many people knew the geography of their homeland by heart. Alice found herself scanning over the map greedily with her eyes. She found the place where she had entered Wonderland at, which was adequately named the Rabbit Hole.

Her eyes then followed down her path of travel, to where she had first met the Cheshire, Julie. From there, she located the place where Hatter's tea party had been. It was easy for her to find her way to their current location; it was even marked as The Hatter's House.

Alice stared at it for a moment, then found her eyes drifting up to other parts of the map. One location stood out more than any other. It was the palace of the Queen. But on this map, it was referred to as the Red Palace. On the map, it wasn't very far away, but in all actuality, it would probably take a couple days to reach the palace.

The Hatter was still smiling as he folded the map and tucked it away in hit waistcoat. He then turned to Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum and told them, "This will do nicely. The rest of what you have brought me, you can take back." The short duo nodded and began to shove their items back into the duffle bag.

Alice stood by and wondered how exactly that map was going to be a game-changer. It would more than likely make things go smoothly if they decided to execute a battle plan, but it wasn't going to do much help for them in overthrowing the Queen.

Alice then felt a hand place itself on her shoulder, and she turned to see Runo giving her slight smile. "I can see you're troubled. If it's about the Hatter's plan, then don't worry. He's got it under control and knows what he's doing. You have to remember, Alice, he's had many years to figure out what he will do to take down the Queen."

_~O~_

Shun left the palace and hurried after the White Rabbit as quickly as possible. It took him a moment to figure out exactly which way the short blonde had gone, but after asking around a bit, he was steered onto the right path.

And as a precautionary measure, he put a decent distance between him and the Queen's errand runner, for the Champion still had no idea why the Red Queen had asked him to follow after the White Rabbit. It confused Shun, there was no doubt about that.

He didn't have a single clue as to why he would be asked to do such a mundane task, when there was a human in Wonderland that the Queen would do anything to get rid of. The thought that Fabia might be doubting the White Rabbit's loyalty was a possibility; she was paranoid as it was, and any little thing could cause her to snap.

This was probably no exception. Shun continued to chase after the short blonde, seeing no rhyme or reason to the path that he was taking; he just seemed to be going wherever he pleased.

There was a look of determination in the White Rabbit's eyes that he had when sent on an errand, which told Shun that the blonde was asked by the Queen to do something. As the Champion trailed behind the small boy, a sudden sense of unease washed over him.

This was just like when he followed the White Rabbit and was captured by the Queen. That was when it had all ended for him, when his life had taken a turn far worse than death.

And as Shun kept following, that sense of unease only seemed to grow, and he realized something; the White Rabbit was sent on an errand, and that errand was to find their human intruder.

* * *

sorry for not getting a chapter in last night. my dad spent most of the afternoon on the computer and after six, i usually don't feel like writing. but i beat him home today, but still got started late. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	10. Repeat Offenses

_~O~_

Alice glanced over at the Hatter, who was still marveling in the map that he had acquired from Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. He was completely absorbed in the piece of paper, and Alice was starting to worry. "All he's done is stare at that map since he got it," she said under her breath.

As far as she could remember, she didn't recall him looking away from the item except to speak once or twice. "He's hatching a plan," Runo said next to the orange-haired girl. Alice jumped a bit, startled by the March Hare, who she forgot was sitting beside her. "I figured that much…..," Alice said, her voice trailing off, "I'm just wondering if what he's thinking up will work. It seems like he's running into this rather blindly."

Runo smiled slightly and whispered over to the orange-haired girl, "He's had his plan thought out for years. All the Hatter is doing now is trying to figure out the timing and when to put it all into action. So, don't worry about him. He knows what he's doing." Alice believed the March Hare, but was still a bit skeptical about how quickly Dan was trying to get things started.

True, the Hatter had been waiting a long time for the right person to come along and help cause his plans to fall together, but she still felt like it was too soon. When the word 'rebellion' popped into Alice's mind, she thought of months and years of going over plans and getting together all they would need.

For this though, they had only truly been at it for a couple of days. Then again, this was Wonderland they were talking about, where nothing made sense to a normal person. To them though, this was all logical and sane. Alice begged to differ, but was slowly growing to accept this world of upside downs and right-side ups. She sighed and didn't say anything else to Runo.

Instead, Alice watched as Dan scrutinized over the map, going over his plans for the millionth time. _At least he's being thorough with it, _Alice mused to herself. If anything, the plan was going to be somewhat well-thought out as much as the Hatter kept repeating it.

Her eyes then left the Hatter and began to wander about the room. They finally fell on the window that she had cleaned a bit to look through. For some reason, Alice wanted to be outside and get some fresh air. Perhaps it was all the dust floating about in the air of the house that was making her feel like she was being suffocated.

Or maybe it was the enormity of all of what was happening, and how fast it was going. That sounded about right. Yes, Alice just wasn't able to process how suddenly things were happening; she still hadn't even fully accepted that she was going to be the face for the rebellion against the Queen.

Beside her, Runo must have sensed Alice's discomfort, for the March Hare asked, "Is everything alright, dearest?" Alice thought for a moment, then decided be as honest as she wanted to be with the bluenette. "No, I don't think so. I'm feeling a bit…..overwhelmed, I guess would be the proper term. I think I might step outside for a bit. You know, to get some fresh air and clear my head."

Runo drew back one of the corners of her lips in a sign of uncertainty. But her expression turned into that of a concerned friend as she told Alice, "Okay, but don't stay out there too long. It's not exactly safe for you." The orange-haired girl smiled at the March Hare, touched by the kindness she was receiving from somebody just short of a stranger.

"Alright, I won't be long," Alice said and stood up from the couch that she had been sitting on. Quietly, Alice snuck out of the house without drawing the attention of the diligently working Hatter; she knew if the Hatter found out that she was going outside, he probably would have insisted that she stay in for her own safety.

In a way, Alice wished that she could stay in the confines of the house, for it really wasn't safe out there. Outside was where the Champion and the Queen's Knights roamed about, searching high and low for her. But Alice was in desperate need of some time alone to sort through the jumble in her brain.

She took in a somewhat shaky breath and opened the door, crossed the threshold, and found herself outside the old house. Thanks to the daylight, the surrounding forest was a lot less terrifying, but she still shuddered at the chill that hung in the air.

Alice then began to walk away from the house, one small step at a time, and made mental notes of landmarks so she would remember the way back in case she strayed too far away from the house. She maneuvered through the trees and kept the skirt of her dress out of the way so the brambles wouldn't tear her dress up even further.

Her goal was to find someplace peaceful, someplace that reminded her of home that would calm her and allow her to think rationally about all of this, for it had almost been impossibly to think rationally since her arrival; rationality was just something that refused to exist in the mind's of the people of Wonderland.

As she wandered about, Alice found herself faced with a very familiar path. It was the very path that she had traveled down after speaking with the flower upon her arrival. She glanced down the direction of the Rabbit Hole, the entrance to Wonderland, and saw the charred remains.

From what she had been told, it had been the Queen's Champion that burned down that portion of Wonderland. The thought of somebody doing something so cruel left a sick feeling in the pit of Alice's stomach. In a strange way, she wanted the Hatter to get the revenge her deserved on the Queen and her minions, but at the same time, she just wanted all of this madness to end with as little bloodshed as possible.

This was why she needed this peace and quiet, so she could sort through conflicting feelings like this. She was about to start down the path that the Rabbit Hole resided on, thinking that maybe seeing what she was now fighting for would help clear some things up, but she was suddenly stopped dead in her tracks by a flash in the corner of her eye.

Alice whirled around to see what had caught her eye, but didn't find anything right off the bat. She stood there for a moment, searching through the trees in confusion. _I know I saw something, _she thought to herself. Perhaps this crazy world was finally starting to get to her and add it to its crazy victims.

Deciding to ignore whatever it was that she might have seen, Alice was about to return to the path that she was about to walk down, when the flash caught her eye once more. This time, she realized something about this suddenly bolt of brightness; it was white.

Alice turned back around and said, "Hello?" Nobody answered her call, and the only noise was of that of the strange birds that fluttered about the air. The color of white then shot through the trees, and Alice instantly knew that she still had a hold of what was left of her sanity.

She had seen something, or more like somebody to be exact. The suddenly flash of white reared its head again, and appeared to be circling about her. But all it took was one quick glimpse through a slight opening in the trees to see the face of the little boy that she had fallen down the Rabbit Hole after.

"Hey!" she shouted and started to run after him, but he took off ahead of her. "Wait up!" Alice called and began to chase after him. She wanted to speak to the little boy, ask him what he was doing up in the garden the day that she followed him, and if he was okay from the fall down the Rabbit Hole.

As she chased after him, Alice recalled that when she met the Mads at the tea party and told them she had followed this boy, who they called the White Rabbit, that they had said following him would bring nothing but trouble.

Alice didn't really know how following somebody so innocent-looking could be trouble, and figured that Dan and Runo had been over-exaggerating this small child a bit.

"Hey! Stop! I'm not going to hurt you! I just want to talk!" Alice shouted, hoping to get the boy to cease his running. But he didn't. He just kept going.

_~O~_

The White Rabbit had finally run across the human that the Queen had been searching for. She was a girl, with fiery orange hair. But in Marucho's opinion, she wasn't the least bit threatening. He had seen more fearsome smiles from the Queen that this little human, and he had a feeling that her Majesty would end up laughing at the latest threat to Wonderland.

Now, he was running back to the Red Palace, the human girl following him behind, just as the Queen figured she would. Humans were quite easy to predict. The Palace was coming into the White Rabbit's sight, and he knew it wouldn't be long before he brought back the human and made her Majesty proud.

Perhaps she would reward him with something like she had when he had accidentally lured the raven-haired boy to the castle, where the Queen had proceeded to turn the human into her Champion. The gift that Marucho received that day, had been a red pocket watch in the shape of a heart, and it was the only working clock in all of Wonderland.

He found this gift to be priceless, for he now had the power of time in his tiny hands, even if he couldn't truly control how fast the second hand ticked away. But he had received that gift on an accident; he couldn't imagine what kind of reward he would get by doing something of this magnitude on purpose.

Maybe the White Rabbit would be promoted to a higher rank, and he would no longer be the Queen's errand runner. Although, he did enjoy running against the clock, defying the inevitable deadline that would come if he did not take out a task in time. It was full of adrenaline, and pushed him to do better in what the Queen asked of him.

He strived to run faster, to do his job better to impress her Majesty. Next to her Champion, the White Rabbit was the Queen's second most loyal servant. The short child glanced back to see if the human girl was still following behind him, and felt his eyes widen at what he saw; she was gone.

The White Rabbit quickly skidded to a halt and began to frantically look around for the girl. He had by the end of the day to bring this human to the Queen, or else he would have failed her. And failure would mean off with his head. Panic began to set in for the small boy, and he quickly ran back in the direction that he had come from, searching high and low for the renegade human.

_~O~_

Shun was still chasing after the White Rabbit, and actually felt himself wearing down. But despite his growing fatigue, he pressed forward, following the short blonde as the Queen had instructed him to do. The White Rabbit had traveled over most of Wonderland, searching for whatever the Queen had sent him for.

Shun had a pretty good idea what that something was, but decided not to jump to conclusions so soon. There was still a considerable distance between him and the child; enough that he could see the short blonde, but just enough that he didn't appear to be following the errand runner, which was a good thing, for it didn't draw much attention.

Well, Shun still drew attention to himself, for he was the Queen's Champion, and the white uniform that he wore was enough to strike fear into anyone that laid eyes on it. But that was attention he could not avoid. Making it look like he and the White Rabbit were not together was what he was able to avoid though.

Shun's paced slowed down a bit as he saw that he was closing in the on the White Rabbit. The short blonde was running around in a large circle for some reason, and when the Champion peered through the trees, he saw why. Standing in the middle of where the short blonde was circling, was a human.

She was talking to the White Rabbit, asking him to stop and speak to her. Shun watched as the short boy darted off in the direction of the Queen's palace, and as the human girl chased after him. Suddenly, Shun was overcome with the dark memories of when he was captured; and it had all been because he did the same thing that this human girl had just done.

The Champion narrowed his eyes and darted off after the White Rabbit and girl. He knew now the Queen's true reason for sending him after the short blonde; it was to capture the human if they ever came out of hiding. And since this was his request, he had no choice but to carry it out, no matter what.

As he chased after them, Shun couldn't help but think that this was the lowest that the Queen had ever stooped. It was one thing for him to be lead massive search parties for this human, but it was another to go and relive the very event that had brought a dark cloud over his life. He ran through the forest and took a shortcut that he knew, and hoped that it would allow him to cut them off. And it did.

Before he realized it, he found himself running into a small clearing. The human that was chasing the White Rabbit stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the Champion, her eyes suddenly wide with fear. She knew who he was, and what he was there for. The two stood in the clearing for a moment. Shun carefully extended his hand out and said calmly, "It's alright. Come with me, and I assure you that you'll be fine."

He had lied many times, but he never got used to this one lie in particular. Maybe it was because it really wouldn't be fine. He knew that odds were, that this innocent-looking girl was going to meet a horrible end to her life as soon as she was brought to the Queen.

The girl stood there, staring in shock at the Champion's outstretched hand, then slowly looked up at him, meeting his gaze head-on. Then, it was like something clicked over inside of her, and the girl darted off away from him. "Hey!" Shun snapped and ran after her.

The human girl was pushing past limbs and briars that should have snagged and tugged at her dress, but it obviously did little to slow her down. Shun, hating how tired he was from chasing after the White Rabbit the past couple of days, forced his exhausted body to keep after her.

The girl glanced over her shoulder. "Stay back!" she warned. For some reason, this girl didn't look as innocent as she did back in the clearing. Back there, she had resembled somewhat like a frightened deer. Now, she was something else entirely. Her paced quickened up, and Shun struggled to match her speed.

But he was catching up to her, and he knew if he just kept pushing himself past his limits, he'd catch her in no time. He was just about to reach out and grab the neck of her skirt, when he felt the ground vanish beneath his feet. When he looked down, Shun saw that a giant hole had opened up.

Then, gravity kicked in and caused the two to fall into the black abyss. The Champion heard the human girl cry out, and he couldn't help but express his own feelings of fear as he fell into the unknown.

The two tumbled as they fell down the seemingly-endless pit, and at one point, Shun had caught a glance of the mouth of the hole, and saw as it closed up, trapping them and taking away the last bit of light.

_~O~_

Up in the trees, and invisible creature sat perched on a limb; it was the Cheshire, Julie. She had spotted Alice after the orange-haired girl left from the Hatter's old home, and followed the human out of curiosity, remaining invisible all the way.

She wanted to make sure to keep an eye out on the girl, seeing as the Champion was wandering about Wonderland on his own. Julie had warned Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum about this, and told them to relay the message to the Hatter.

She was sure the two had done as she asked them. As she followed Alice, Julie noticed off in the distance that the White Rabbit was running towards the orange-haired girl. The Cheshire had tensed at this, and wanted to warn the girl, but it had been too late. The short boy was starting to circle her, and had the human's full attention.

It all went downhill from there. Alice chased after the White Rabbit. Julie tried her best to keep up with the two, but was no match for their speed. Soon, she lost sight of both of them. But she held onto the hope that she might catch up, so she hurried along the direction the two had run off in.

What she found next, send a chill down her spine. Alice was standing in front of the Queen's Champion, and the Cheshire instantly knew that it was all over. There was nothing she could do to help Alice. The orange-haired girl then took off, the Champion trailing right behind her.

Julie bolted after them, hoping that Alice would somehow outrun the Queen's top Knight. But just as the raven-haired man was about to catch her, the ground broke open beneath them, sending them plummeting into a dark abyss. Julie sat on a tree limb, staring down at the gaping hole in shock.

Then, it slowly began to close. Before the hole completely vanished, the White Rabbit ran up and saw as the last remnants of the pit disappeared. The Cheshire sat in her tree branch, totally invisible to the White Rabbit, and knew they were both thinking the same thing; that this was far from good.

* * *

aye, quite the long chapter, huh? a lot going on. you'll have to check in for the next chapter to know what's going on. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	11. Stacking Up The Losses

_~O~_

"What!" the Red Queen shouted, causing the White Rabbit to flinch back at the sudden outburst. He had just returned back to the palace and delivered the news of what fate had become of her Champion and the human girl. The Queen abruptly stood up from her throne and began to furiously pace back and forth before the short blonde.

He was trembling, filled with fear at what her Majesty would do in her rage. He watched as she ran a hand through her semi-short, blue hair and scowled. Her green eyes fell back onto the small boy, and she delivered a piercing gaze that could have made her Champion shudder.

"Are you sure that they fell down an entrance to the Lake?" she asked harshly. The White Rabbit swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat and nodded. "Yes, your Majesty. I am positive. I saw the entrance closing with my very own eyes," he said and tried to keep his voice steady, but was failing miserably.

The Queen returned to her seat on the throne and clenched her hands tightly into fists. "How dare this happen right now," she hissed under her breath. Marucho cautiously lifted his hand up to ask to speak. The Red Queen gave him a momentary glance, then looked away and said coldly, "What else do you have to tell me?"

He flinched back at the hostility at her words, but felt that what he was about to tell her would lighten her rage. "If it makes any difference to you, I believe that the girl was walking from the direction of the forest that surrounds the Hatter's old home. It's possible that she may have holed herself up there, and if that's the case, then we might be able to find something of use there."

The White Rabbit waited nervously for a reaction from the Queen. She stared down at him, eyes piercing and cold, and made it to where the small boy was unable to hold her gaze, forcing him to advert his eyes. She then snapped her fingers, calling forth several Knights of the Heart from somewhere nearby.

They stood at attention, and to the White Rabbit, they didn't look nearly as intimidating as they did when the Champion stood in front of the crimson-clad soldiers. The Queen raised her hand and pointed a well-manicured nail at the door. "Go to the house of the Hatters and investigate for me.

If there is anyone else inside, I want them brought to me. Preferably alive so I can question them personally. But if this is not possible, then do as you wish to them," she said callously. The Knights fisted their hands over their hearts and filed out of the throne room to take out the Queen's request.

The White Rabbit, gnawing nervously on his bottom lip, stuttered out a question, "Is there anything you want me to do, your Majesty?" The Queen leaned back into her throne and rubbed the temples on the side of her head with frustration. "Nothing of great importance. You are dismissed," she said flatly and continued to rub her temples.

He nodded and gave her a quick bow before fleeing from the throne room. Once her was out of her Majesty's sight, he let out a long sigh that he had been holding in since telling her what happened out in the forest. "That could have been my head," he said with a shudder, and touched the base of his collarbone where his head would have been severed if his audience with the Queen had gone wrong.

_~O~_

"Do what!" the Hatter shouted and slammed his hands down on the table in front of him, causing a candle to nearly topple over. The Cheshire, Julie, stood before him, a grim expression gracing her usually smiling face. "It is just as I have told you. I witnessed Alice and the Queen's Champion fall into the entrance to the Lake," she repeated, even though she knew that the Hatter had heard her clearly the first time.

Dan ran a hand through his shaggy, brown hair and shook his head. "No. This can't be happening. Not now. We need her if we are to take down the Queen!" he snapped as he began to lose control over his emotions. Standing not far off behind the Hatter, was the March Hare, Runo.

A look of sick worry was on the bluenette's face as she adverted her gaze to the floor and said with a heavy sigh, "I shouldn't have let her leave the house. I should have known that something like this would happen, and yet, I let her go anyway." Julie frowned and joined Runo's side, and placed her hand on the March Hare's shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Runo. Nobody could have foreseen any of this happening," the Cheshire said gently. "No! Anyone could have seen something like this happening! You know why? It's because the Queen's Knights and Champion are searching Wonderland with a fine-toothed comb for her! And yet, you allowed her to leave!" the Hatter yelled.

Julie narrowed her eyes at Dan and snapped, "Hatter, calm down." The brunette felt his anger die down a bit, and he slumped into his chair at the table, then buried his face into his hands.

He then lifted his head away from his palms and sighed. "Alice is just too important. We can't fight the Queen without her. Without her…..Our plan and intentions are worthless," he said softly with a grimace.

Runo frowned and said, "There has to be some way we can get her back, right?" The room was silent, but it was broken by the Hatter not long after. "You know just like the rest of us that finding the entrance to the Lake is nothing more than a stroke of luck. It's probably moved all the way to the other side of Wonderland by now…."

His voice trailed off. It was obvious that he was seriously distressed by the loss of their human guest, and he had every reason to be. With Alice, they had a very good chance at standing up against the Queen and her minions, but now, they were back to square one.

They could wait for another human to come along, but what were the odds of them being just like Alice? They probably wouldn't be as kind, or humble. Or perhaps they would be slaughtered by the Queen before any of them even knew of their presence. They needed Alice.

Not another human. Just Alice. Suddenly, the door to the house busted open, and Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum came waddling in, carrying overstuffed duffle bags on their shoulders and sweat pouring down their bald heads. Hatter stood up and asked them, "What's going on?"

The two short, round people set their duffle bags down and tried to catch their breaths. Finally, one of them spoke up and said, "We saw the Queen's Knights heading in this direction…We brought some weapons that we've kept hidden in case of emergency."

Hatter reached down and opened the bag to look inside, finding swords and daggers sheathed inside. "How far away from here were they when you spotted the Knights?" Hatter asked and took out a medium-length, sheathed sword.

The duo stood before him and said in unison, "Not that far off. We were out making merchant runs when they passed by. After that, we rushed back to our place to gather the weapons. Odds are, they're probably close to closing in on us."

Dan scowled, furious that bad news was piling up more and more on him as the day went on. He turned and faced him friends and told them, "Grab something to defend yourselves with. The Champion won't be with them, so the Knights won't be as strong. But that doesn't mean you should let your guards down."

They all nodded and selected a sheathed blade; even Runo was able to wake Joe the Dormouse and get him alert enough to wield something. As they stood there and began to psyche themselves up for the inevitable, a window shattered into tiny pieces, sending flying shards of glass onto the wooden floor.

Everyone ducked down, not knowing what was going on. Cautiously, the Hatter peered into the room and saw a small, heart-shaped canister just as is broke apart, sending red smoke into the house. Coughing and blinded, the group tried to find a way out, knowing all the way that whatever waited for them outside would put up a fight.

After feeling around for a bit, Runo located a door to the outside and shouted to her disoriented friends, "Here! The door is here!" They quickly poured out of the red smoke-filled house and stumbled outside, where they all proceeded to greedily take in fresh air.

The Hatter, still coughing and wiping the tears from his eyes, glanced up and felt himself tense up. All around the house, were crimson-clad Knights of the Heart with swords and spears at the ready. The Hatter and his group slowly brought their own weapons at the ready, feeling confident that they could possibly fight their way through the foes that surrounded them.

And like Dan had said before, the Champion was not with them, which would end up greatly decreasing their fighting ability, for the Knights of the Heart were nothing without the Champion. Regardless, the Hatter was going to enjoy cutting some of these brutes down to size; it would give him a way to take out his frustrations that had piled up.

The first Knight charged at them, setting off a chain-reaction and causing the rest of the warriors to attack as well. The Hatter let out a cry of battle, and he and his fellow Mads countered the initial charge of the Knights. Swords collided with one another as the six of the fought back against the twenty or so Knights.

Dan caught a glimpse of Joe just as the Dormouse impaled a Knight with his sword. Despite how much the Dormouse slept, the Hatter had learned one thing about his narcoleptic friend; he was one hell of a fighter when he needed to be.

As the Mads fought back valiantly, Dan noticed that they were slowly being overwhelmed by the Knights, and he instantly knew that there was no way that they would make it through. Not in one piece, at least. He shouted to his friends, "Don't worry about fighting now! Just run!"

He caught a glimpse of Julie as she vanished into thin air, leaving several Knights in a confused daze. The next to flee was Joe. He cut his way through a wall of Knights and fled into the surrounding forest. Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum curled their round bodies into balls and rolled their way out, knowing over Knights like bowling pins.

Dan was in the process of making his own way out, when he heard a high-pitched scream come from Runo. He glanced over his shoulder and saw as the March Hare was grabbed by a Knight, who was much larger and stronger than her.

The Hatter felt his anger boil back up to the surface of his very being, and he charged at the Knight that held his dear friend captive, and sliced the blade of his sword into the crimson armor. The Knight fell to the ground, releasing Runo. "Go!" the Hatter shouted at her, "I'll hold them back! Go!"

Runo gave him a pained look, but knew there was no point in arguing with the Hatter. So, she took off while she had the chance, not taking a moment to sneak one final look at the Hatter. Dan held his own for a little while, but was soon overcome by the sheer number and overwhelming strength of the Knights.

They pinned him to the ground, tied his hands up so he couldn't fight back anymore, and took away his sword. One Knight even went so far as to drive an armor-clad knee into the Hatter's back, stunning him. The Hatter laid there, surrounded by the Knights of the Heart, utterly defeated and humiliated.

He closed his eyes and asked painfully, "What are you planning on doing with me?" One of the Knights laughed and said, "Take you to the Queen, of course. She wants to question you, and I'm sure after she gets what she wants, it will be off with your head."

The Hatter could feel the cold hand of an inevitable death already snaking its way up his body. He decided right then and there that he would not tell the Queen what she wanted to know. He would keep the information to himself and watch her struggle, and fail, to get it out of him.

The Hatter knew by doing that, that he probably would end up speeding up his execution, but it would be worth it just to see the source of all his suffering, suffer some herself. The Knights of the Heart lifted the Hatter up and drug him back to the Red Palace, where the end would soon come to take the Hatter away from all his pain.

* * *

in the next chapter the whole concept of the Lake that was mentioned will be explained, so hold your horses. in other news, i am officially on Spring Break, which means a week of no school and early uploads. X) hurray! read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	12. Prisoners Of Paradise

_~O~_

Alice's eyes slowly fluttered open, allowing light to take over the darkness that had shrouded her vision. She forced herself to sit up, finding that her body was rather sore. "Ow," she groaned and rubbed the side of her head. She sat there in confusion for a moment, trying to remember exactly what happened to her.

The last thing she recalled was that she was being chased, and then it seemed like the ground just fell away from beneath her. With that thought in mind, Alice began to look around to see if she could tell where she was at. She was laying in a clearing of a forest, but she started to wonder if this was still part of Wonderland because the trees and bushes surrounding her didn't look like they would have belonged. They looked too…..Normal.

Alice thought harder now, trying desperately to remember how she exactly got here, or even where here was. The only thing she could guess was that whatever had happened to her while she was being chased and fell down that hole, it had deposited her here.

She furrowed her brows and said with aggravation, "I'm getting rather tired of falling down holes." Once was enough for her, but twice was one too many times for her liking. Alice sighed and decided it was time to get up and start trying to figure out a way to get back to the Hatter's house.

When she thought of the Hatter, a feeling of guilt and worry washed over her. If she had just stayed there at the house, then she wouldn't be in this mess. Then again, when had she ever done the smart thing? Chasing the White Rabbit and falling into Wonderland was a perfect example of her poor choices.

Alice wasn't the kind that thought two steps ahead and what kind of things could happen because of her actions, she only thought of there here and now. She had a feeling that the Hatter had probably noticed her absence by now, and Alice couldn't even begin to fathom what he would go through in knowing that his precious face of the rebellion was no missing in action.

This urged Alice to find her way back all the more. She had made a promise to the Hatter that she would be there and help him with his plans, and she wasn't going to let him down. She couldn't let him down; not after all he had done for her. Alice stood up, thought for a moment about which way to go, and finally picked a direction. She walked aimlessly through the trees, pushing limbs and briars out of her way so she wouldn't get scratched or trip.

As she walked through the forest, she thought she caught the sound of water up ahead. Her curiosity that got her in trouble so many times before this, was piqued and egged her to head towards the sound. She didn't deny her curiosity of its guilty pleasure, and allowed it to lead her in the direction of where she heard the moving water.

Alice pushed an oversized leaf out of her way, revealing to her one of the most extravagant sites she had ever seen in her life. Before her, was a glistening lake in the middle of a field of the greenest grass that could have ever been imagined. She marveled at the way the water shimmered like that of glass or a mirror, and it was then she noticed that there was sunlight reflecting on the water.

Alice looked up and saw the round ball of fire in the sky. Since arriving in Wonderland, she had not seen hide nor hair of the sun; it always seemed to be hidden by the dark clouds that covered the sky. So, it surprised her to see it here. The sun sent a warm feeling through her body, which she hadn't even realized was cold until then.

Alice sighed in content as the icy chill that had seemed to have invaded her body, melted away. Never in a million years did she ever think she would be this happy to encounter the sun. _I guess it is true what people say about you don't know what you have until it's gone, _she silently mused to herself.

She took in a deep breath of the air, and smiled by how clean it was; it was way different than the air back in Wonderland. In Wonderland, the air might have been clean, but the scent of fear and misery was enough to choke somebody.

Alice decided then to go closer to the lake, and took off her white shoes so she could enjoy the vibrantly green grass, for it just looked so pleasant. She stepped away from the edge of the forest and started to head towards the massive body of water, smiling contently as her feet brushed against the cool grass and Earth.

As she walked, she couldn't help but wonder why the people of Wonderland didn't just come here and live. It certainly was very peaceful and serene, and they surely wouldn't have to worry and live in fear of the Red Queen. If anything, this was paradise. Alice was halfway to the lake, when a sound to her right caught her attention.

She stopped and glanced over, and felt her body go rigid and cold. Laying on the ground, was the Queen's Champion. Her first instinct was to run, to get as far away from him as possible, for he was the one who was sent to capture her and take her to the Queen, where she would surely be executed.

But right before Alice took off, she stopped herself. She could tell that the Champion was out cold like she had been after that fall. Curious, Alice stepped closer to him, realizing that as long as he was unconscious, he was no threat to her.

Now, she stood only a few feet away from him; close enough to get a good look, but far enough to stay out of his reach if he were to wake up. Her heart was racing with adrenaline and nervousness at being this close to him. He was a killer, as she had found out from the Hatter.

A cold-blooded killer that would end some innocent life without so much a blink of an eye, and all because he was ordered to by the Red Queen. Alice didn't understand why he didn't just stand up to her, refuse her orders and lay down the law.

Surely, as powerful as everyone made him out to be, he would be able to stand up to her and fight for what was right. The only other option that made sense to Alice, was that he might have enjoyed killing all these people and causing pain. "How can somebody really be that cold?" Alice asked herself under her breath.

But as she stood there and looked at the unconscious Champion, she couldn't help but notice that he wasn't much older than her, and looked rather innocent. Perhaps that was just because he was not awake, and his cold, amber eyes were not locked onto her.

She remembered how ruthless and intimidating he had looked when he showed up at the Hatter's tea party in search of her. The way he looked and carried himself had sent a shiver down her spine, but that shiver was nowhere to be found now, even though he was right in front of her. It was like she was somehow looking at somebody completely different.

As Alice continued to stare down at him, she finally noticed the thin line of blood that was trickling down the side of his head. Her caring instincts kicked in, and she knelt down beside him, reaching her gloved hand out to examine the wound, but drew it back just a few inches short of his face.

She stared in surprise at her actions; was she really about to help him? She wanted to because it was the right thing to do, but when she weighed what kind of atrocities he had committed, Alice couldn't help but think that this was could be the universe's way of making him pay for all those evil deeds.

But her caring demeanor got the better of her rationality, and she sighed and tore off a piece of cloth from her tattered dress skirt. She moved his raven black hair out of the way so she could access the wound, and pressed the fabric on where the blood was coming from.

Alice could see that the wound wasn't very severe; it wasn't much more than a slight gash. As she wiped up the blood and helped stopped the bleeding, Alice noticed her usually steady hands were trembling. She wasn't going to deny that she was scared and nervous. What if he woke up while she was in such close quarters with him?

He would probably grab a hold of her and carry out his task that he had been sent to do. So, Alice decided that she would help with his would then hurry up and get far away from him and go into hiding. But just as she had gotten the bleeding to stop and she was about to go back into the forest, she hesitated and turned back to look at him.

He was completely defenseless in his current condition, and Alice couldn't help but feel guilty if something came this way and attacked him while he was down, even if he did deserve it. So, she changed her mind about leaving and decided to stay until he started to wake up.

The moment that happened, she would head for the hills and put as much distance between them as she possibly could. Alice groaned and said to herself, "The Hatter would kill me if he found out I was doing this."

She looked up to the sky and saw the it was starting to grow dark, and the cold air that dominated the nighttime was already starting to settle in; it also didn't help the drop in temperature that they were beside a lake, which just radiated cool air.

So, Alice left the injured Champion's side for just a moment, and returned with an armful of sticks to build a fire with. She had never made a fire before, but she had watched her grandfather build one plenty of times when they had gone camping. A pang of longing then struck her down and made her stop what she was doing.

Alice wondered what her grandfather was doing at that moment. She had been gone for almost a week now, and surely he had already sent out search parties for her. Alice hated knowing that she was probably causing the elderly man so much grief. She then shook her head, trying to get rid of those thoughts.

She would be reunited with her grandfather after all of this trouble in Wonderland was finally over with, Alice just knew it. With a renewed determination, she resumed trying to make the fire, and just as the sun set behind the horizon, a spark ignited the sticks and dried leaves beneath them.

Heat instantly radiated from the orange, flickering flames, providing relief from the cold night. And before long, Alice slowly drifted off to sleep in the soft grass.

_~O~_

Shun slowly woke from his unconscious state, and found himself laying on the ground, a slowly dying fire beside him. He grimaced as the pain in the side of his head became known; it wasn't intolerable, but it still wasn't pleasant either. He laid there for a moment and struggled to try and remember exactly what happened.

He remember chasing after the human girl, and just as he was about to grab her, the ground had split wide open beneath them, sending both of them tumbling down into the hole. But after that, all he could remember was darkness. Now, he was staring up at a night sky, something he hadn't seen in quite a long time.

It provided him a sense of peace in knowing that the Queen hadn't taken everything away, but he then began to wonder why the sky was visible, when it was normally hidden behind dark storm clouds. Determined to try and figure out what was going on, forced his sore body into a sitting position, and propped himself up on his elbows.

When he did, a piece of purple fabric fell from his shoulder and onto the ground. He stared at it and saw bloodstains covered the cloth. _What the? _He reached down and picked the cloth up and examined it. The blood on it was dried, almost staining all of the purple cloth brown.

He then thought of the ache in the side of his head, and brought his hand up to where the pain was most profound, and felt a decent-sized gash there. He flinched at the tenderness, and instantly knew that this was where the blood had come from, but he had no clue where the purple fabric came from.

But the color was strikingly familiar, although he could not immediately place where it came from. Shun's eyes then caught movement to his right, and he saw behind the fire, the skirt of a purple dress, which was missing a piece the same size as the cloth that had been used to clean up his wound.

But it was who was in the purple dress that made his eyes widen with surprise; it was the human girl he had been in pursuit of by order of the Red Queen. The girl was sleeping soundly beside the fire, which was starting to die away. Instincts and his orders from the Queen urged him to restrain her until he could take her back to Fabia, but he did not.

Shun was left in a bit of confusion as to why she had helped him, instead of leaving him there to suffer from his wound and freeze in the night. He continued to stare at her, his confusion mounting more and more. Shun just couldn't make heads or tails of it all.

Why would anyone, given they knew who he was and what kinds of things he had done, would bother to help him? Suddenly, an ember from the fire popped, and the girl stirred on the other side. She looked up, sleep still in her chocolate brown eyes, and stared at the fire for a moment.

Then, she noticed that on the other side of the fire, Shun was awake. Her eyes grew wide, and Shun noticed that fight he had seen in them when she ran from him back in that forest. She immediately jumped to her feet and started to take off, but Shun wouldn't have any of it.

He had questions to ask her, like why she had helped him instead of leaving him to suffer. He jumped up as well, ignoring the pain in the side of his head, and stepped around the fire and latched onto the girl's wrist before she had the chance to turn and run. She screamed, "Let me go! Let me go!"

Shun tightened his grip on her wrist, which only made the fight in this girl burn more intensely. Her free arm whipped around and struck Shun in his side, knocking the air out of him, but he held on tight. "Calm down!" he snapped, trying to regain his breath.

She continued to struggle against his hold and yelled, "No! I won't calm down! If I do, you'll just take me to that Queen of your's so she can kill me! I knew I shouldn't have stayed around here and let my guard down! Let. Me. Go!" She gave her wrist one good tug in another attempt to get away, and Shun could feel the bones in her wrist popping.

"You're going to end up hurting yourself if you keep this up," he said sternly, trying not to frighten her even further, because it as quite obvious that the more scared she got, the more she fought. The girl narrowed her eyes at him and snapped, "Better me hurt myself than you handing me over to that vile witch of a Queen and having her hurt me!"

As Shun held onto her, he couldn't help but grow even more confused as to why this girl helped him, when she obviously loathed him quite a bit. Perhaps it was guilt or just her moral values, but he wanted to find out regardless. "Don't you think if I wanted to take you to the Queen, I would be able to drag you there? I'm not trying to do that," he told her, his voice a bit calmer in order to try and make her see that he wasn't a threat.

At least, not at the moment. He felt her relax a bit and knew that he had made a valid point. "I suppose you're right about that," she muttered, but the hostility in her voice was still clear as day. Slowly, he released his hold on her wrist, which she quickly snatched away from him and began rubbing it.

Shun saw that her wrist had turned red from their struggle, and he knew that this wasn't going to help him get on her good side, if ever. She narrowed her eyes and asked harshly, "Alright, then. If you're not about to take me to the Queen, then why don't you at least tell me where we are at? Because this obviously isn't the Wonderland that I know."

Their current location didn't even occur to Shun until the girl said something. He began to look around, and his eyes fell on the massive lake before them. He felt the color drain from his face. "This isn't good," he said aloud, but meant for it to be a silent thought. The girl narrowed her eyes and looked back and forth between him and the lake. "What? What isn't good?" she asked sharply.

Shun glanced back at her and said, "This is Looking Glass Lake." The girl raised a brow up at him and said, "Looking Glass Lake?" He nodded in response to her question. She then asked him, "And what about this so-called Looking Glass Lake is so bad? In my opinion, this place is much nicer and more peaceful than the Wonderland that you and your Queen have destroyed."

Shun tried not to let the hostility in her voice get to him, even if what she was saying was true. In a way, it was like she was rubbing all of his wrong-doings in his face, and that somewhat bothered him; he already had to live with them everyday, he didn't need somebody helping him.

He cleared his throat and told the girl, "Looking Glass Lake might seem like a nice place, but it's more of a prison than a paradise." She stared at him, confusion in her eyes, then turned and looked at her surroundings, obviously wondering how this was such a bad place.

Before she could ask, he continued. "It's an extension of Wonderland that is hidden beneath. But what makes it a prison, is that fact that the entrance moves around randomly. You can never know when it will appear, and it just so happens that it showed up while I was chasing you. Rather an unexpected turn of events."

The girl looked around again, and this time, Shun could see she had a bit of a different perspective on this place. "So, does that mean that you also cant predict where the exit will appear?" she asked. Shun gave her a single nod and told her, "Anyone that has ever fallen in here, is usually never seen again in Wonderland…..They never find the way out, or can't keep up with the entrance's random movements."

The girl nodded, then narrowed her eyes back him. "So, you're telling me that we're stuck here pretty much forever?" she asked sharply. Shun nodded. Even though it was considered a misfortune for anyone who fell into the underground world of Looking Glass Lake, he felt a bit of relief from it.

Now, he was out of the Queen's reach. She could no longer give him orders and make him commit heinous crimes. So, maybe he should have looked at it like it was some kind of paradise. The girl rested her hands on her hips and said, "So, if we're unable to get out of here, that means you can't take me to the Queen, huh?"

Again, Shun nodded. He knew that her knowing that she was no longer in danger of the Queen, she would probably become less hostile towards him, which would make his life a lot easier. She then brushed past him, and Shun could fell the cold chill that the girl's loathing gave off.

He turned around and watched her throw some more sticks onto the fire just as it was about to die out. She then sat down beside the fire and leaned back on the palms of her hands. "Well, if we're going to be trapped here together, I might as well know your name," she said flatly.

He blinked in surprise and returned back to the spot next to the fire where he had woken up at. "Shun," he informed her. She nodded and said, "Mine's Alice." Alice closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them back up, a look of seriousness etched deep into her features.

"Listen, just because we're trapped here now, doesn't mean I'm going to trust you. Understand me?" she said harshly. Shun was surprised by how hostile this girl was towards him, but then again, he had been trying to catch her and deliver her to the Queen, but only by orders.

If it had been up to him, he would have left her alone. But it wasn't up to him. It was up to the Queen, and he had to follow her orders. But now that they were at the Looking Glass Lake, he had no worries about the Queen. In a way, he was finally free from her, even though their Oath was still there.

Alice, eyes still locked on him with a glare, laid back down in the grass and turned her back to him. Shun sighed and laid down as well. He was just about to drift back off to sleep, when he heard a small sob escape Alice, and he couldn't help but think, _Maybe she's not as strong as she makes herself out to be._

In the end, she was nothing more than a frightened girl in a strange world, but who was Shun to judge? He had once been in that same position before when he first fell down the Rabbit Hole.

He had been scared and frightened, as much as he hated to admit it, but he learned how to deal with that fear and accept it as reality when he realized that he was no longer able to return home when he accepted his role as the Queen's Champion.

With his mind a jumbled mess with all of his thoughts and what events had just transpired, he fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

didnt mean for this chapter to be this long, but oh well. the more the merrier. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	13. Trust Issues

_~O~_

Alice had cried herself to sleep that night, but only because this new information was too much for her already overwhelmed mind to take it. It was one thing to know that she would be separated from her grandfather and old life outside of Wonderland, but it was an entirely different thing when she was unable to leave this lake, to be trapped there for the remainder of her life.

And to top it off, she was stuck there with the very person who had been trying to hurt her, and who had also hurt so many others before her. She still wasn't even sure if Shun had been telling her the truth about Looking Glass Lake, and how it was almost impossible to find and escape from.

For all she knew, it could have all been a lie to keep her in one place while the Queen came to get her personally. Alice just didn't know what to believe anymore. But no matter how long she may be trapped there, it would take her twice as long to even begin to trust the Queen's Champion, regardless of what he may say to her to try and earn her trust; the weight of his wrong-doings was a lot heavier than that of his words.

But that morning, Alice woke beside the remains of last night's fire, somewhat surprised to find it still smoldering, even though the fire had surely gone out a while ago. She sat up and brushed some of the grass out of her hair, then noticed something was missing. She glanced over to her right, where Shun had laid down last night, and found his spot empty.

Alice immediately tenses up and began to search around. She didn't trust him the least bit, and as long as she was going to be trapped there with him, she was going to keep an eye on the Champion and make sure he didn't try to double-cross her or anything of that sort.

After a bit of frantic searching and growing paranoia, she finally caught sight of him. He was standing a few yards away from the water's edge of the Lake and staring out at the other side, as if deep in thought. Alice narrowed her eyes and stood up.

She then stomped over to him and said harshly, "Hey, until I even think about trusting you, you stay near me so I can keep an eye on you make sure you don't try any funny business." Shun, who apparently had had his eyes closed, slowly opened them and turned his amber orbs on her.

The sight of them was enough to send a slight chill down Alice's spine; whether he was trying or not, they still looked like the eyes of a cold, heartless killer. A sly grin then formed on the Champion's lips, and he let out a short, deep chuckle. "You really don't trust me, do you?" he asked, that grin still on his face.

But his slight smile quickly vanished, and his expression turned rather grim. "Not that you'd have any reason to," he said flatly and turned his attention back to the Lake. Alice stared at him for a moment, then told him, "You're right. I have no reason to trust you, seeing as all the things you've done. Regardless, stay within my field of vision so I can keep my eyes on you."

She turned on her heels and walked back to the skeletal remains of the campfire, leaving the Champion there at the edge of the Lake. Alice sat back down in her spot beside the charred wood and kept narrowed eyes locked on the Champion. _I can't let my guard down around him, _she told herself sternly.

_It will only spell trouble, I just know it. _Suddenly, Alice felt her stomach growl in hunger. She placed her stomach over her abdomen. When was the last time she ate? While she was at the Hatter's house the night before? She then began to look around at the forest behind her.

Alice had no idea what kind of plants should could eat, and which ones would kill her; she hadn't been in Wonderland long enough to know what was edible, much less even thought about having to know this skill. She sighed, thinking that if it came down to it, she would go through trial and error to know what was edible and what was not.

A pair of feet then walked up to her, and Alice followed the feet up to meet the steely gaze of the Champion. "You look like you're getting hungry," he said calmly, as if she had never gone off on him five minutes ago. Alice turned her gaze towards something else and said, "Yeah, I guess so. It's been almost a day since I've had anything to eat."

She didn't like conversing with him. It made her feel somewhat like a traitor to the Hatter and the rest of the Mads. She _was _supposed to be the face and symbol for the rebellion in Wonderland, after all. What would the others think if they knew she was speaking with the Queen's Champion, the very person who had them all living in fear?

Then again, it wasn't like she had much choice. Shun folded his arms over his chest and said flatly, "If you'd allow me out of your hawk-like eyes for five minutes, I could find us something to eat." Alice narrowed her eyes at him, and instantly wondered if they did, in fact, resemble a hawk, or if that had been strictly metaphorical.

"I don't know," she said suspiciously. "How do I know you're not going to run off and go get some help or something?" Shun shut his eyes and let out a sigh of aggravation. "You honestly thought I lied to you about being trapped here? If I was able to go and get assistance to capture you, I would have already done it and brought you to the Queen, regardless of whether or not you tried to run."

Alice remained silent for a moment as she tried to read the Champions features to tell if he really was telling the truth. She could tell he wasn't lying now, but that didn't mean anything other than he could have been an exceptional actor. She finally sighed and told him, "Fine."

He gave her a nod and walked towards the woods, then disappeared as the trees obstructed her view of him. Perhaps Alice should have gone with him to make sure he really was going to find them food, but it was too late now. She sat there, nervously awaiting his return; if he ever returned.

To pass the time, she poked around in the charred pieces of wood that made up the campfire and watched the cold ember crumble away into dust. That was kind of like how Alice was starting to feel. She felt like she had been through intense fires, fighting back against what was trying to cause her harm and grief, and it had left her badly burned.

Now, she was just waiting for her charred psyche to crumble away like that of the embers. While Alice had been off in her metaphorical thoughts, Shun had returned and set down a pile of leaves and berries in front of her. He told her, "This was all I could find on such short time."

She looked from him, to the plants before her, and felt a growing paranoia form. When she didn't immediately reach for something, Shun asked her, "What? Something wrong?" He didn't sound concerned, he sounded more annoyed. Alice closed her eyes, then narrowed them at the Champion and told him, "You eat something first."

She wasn't about to take a chance on him trying to poison her. Shun stared at her in disbelief, then ran a hand through his short, raven-black hair. "You are unbelievable," he snapped, his patience obviously growing thin.

Alice folded her arms and said gruffly, "If I had a reason to trust you, I wouldn't be doubting you. But you have no reason, there for, I don't either. Besides, can you blame me for wanting to make sure my life is not in danger?" He narrowed his cold, amber eyes at her, then signed in submission.

"Fine, you want to see if anything will kill you? Then I'll go first." He reached out and grabbed one of the berries, which was no larger than that of a blueberry, and was yellowish in color. The Champion popped it in his mouth and ate it. "There, see? Any plants in Wonderland that are poisonous work quick. If it was harmful, I would be dead by now," he told her sharply.

Now, Alice at least knew she could eat the yellow berries, but she still was apprehensive about the rest of the plants. There could still might as well be some poisonous plant or fruit in that mix that the Champion was hiding from her.

She reached out and took a yellow berry and ate it, surprised to find that it didn't have much flavor at all, but it was food nonetheless. As she ate on the small, round fruits, Shun finally asked her in a persecuting tone, "If you can't stand me this much, or even bother to try and trust my word, why did you help me? It doesn't make any sense."

Alice thought about the words to say. She knew why she had helped him; it had been because her conscious wouldn't have let her live with herself if something had happened to him while he couldn't defend himself.

But she didn't want him to know that because it would possibly make her seem like she was weak, or even remotely cared about him, which she did not in any way, shape, or form. Finally, Alice shrugged and said, "If there is one thing I have learned so far, it's that nothing makes sense here in Wonderland." And she left it at that.

_~O~_

The Hatter cried out in pain as another lashing was dealt out to him. He would have long dropped to his feet, but he was unable to, thanks to the shackles that held him up by his wrists. His body oozed blood from where the whip had broken his skin open, and yet, he still refused to talk.

Behind the Knight that had been dealing out his punishment, the Red Queen stepped into the dungeon, a devious look on her face. "Are you ready to talk yet, Hatter? Or do you want another lashing to give you some more encouragement?" she asked callously, but with a smile on her face.

The Hatter spit on the ground, knowing good and well that there was blood mixed in. "I'm….Not….Talking…..," he wheezed out. Those words were going to be all they got out of him, no matter how much they beat him down. The Queen narrowed her emerald green eyes at him, then threw a piece of paper on the ground; his map.

They had confiscated it from him when the Knights of the Heart arrested him. The Queen said, "Then what are you doing with this map? Nobody in Wonderland is supposed to have them in their possession. And same goes for a human. So, just say it. You were planning on challenging my reign."

When the Hatter didn't say anything, she continued to speak. "Listen here, Hatter, you're as good as dead whether you speak or not. So, just make it easier on me and my Knights and tell me where the rest of your accomplices are," she purred. Dan shook his head weakly and said, "Never…."

He then coughed, and the spasms made his battered body scream in pain. The Queen's jaw tightened, and next thing the Hatter knew, she had slapped him across the face, and one of her manicured nails had left a claw mark on his features.

He flinched back at the sting, but didn't allow it to bring him any lower than he already was. The Queen then shouted, "Leave him! Perhaps some time hanging there will give him some time to think about whether he wants to talk or not."

She then filed out of the dungeon, and the Knight with the whip followed behind her, slamming the heavy wooded door shut as he left out. The moment, the door closed, the room lost all of its light, leaving the Hatter in nothing but darkness. But he welcomed this lack of light, for it had been a part of his everyday life since the murder of his family.

It did not bother him. In fact, he smiled and greeted it like an old friend, an old friend that reminded him that he still had a reason to fight and keep on living. That friend's name, was revenge.

* * *

ANIME REVIEW TIME! okay, so i stayed up super late last night watching the first four episodes of an anime called Pandora Hearts (because i read it was somewhat similar to Black Butler, and i ADORE me some Kuroshitsuji). well, my input on Pandora Hearts is that it's rather hard to follow the first few episodes, as compared to most anime, which usually get to the point within the first two episodes (I am five episodes into Pandora Hearts and still not sure what is going on.) the first episode is rather...trippy, i guess would be the word. i really didnt know what was going on in the first episode. at. all. but i do recommend watching it. the characters are well drawn, and it's pretty funny at time. well, enough about that. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	14. Fight Or Flight

_~O~_

Shun didn't blame Alice for not trusting him; if the roles were reversed, he was sure that he wouldn't have an ounce of trust in him either. But he did find something interesting about the fight in this girl. As long as he has been working for the Queen as her Champion, he had never encountered another human with quite as much spark as Alice.

It certainly had his interest piqued, especially when he first encountered her, she had looked so scared and weak. But that was before that internal switched flipped in her and her inner fight came out. Shun began to wonder if he needed to keep his own guard up, just in case they ended up turning on each other.

Even though he was an excellent fighter, he felt that Alice could possible give him a run for his money, if she wanted to. A sudden chill caused Shun to stir from his restless sleep and the thoughts that had occupied his mind during this time.

He opened his eyes halfway, and saw that the wind had picked up at some point and extinguished the fire. Smoke still billowed up from the burning wood, telling him that the fire hadn't been gone out long. His eyes then drifted to the other side of the piled of charred wood, and he saw Alice.

The girl had curled up in her sleep to escape the cold night air, her small frame shivering slightly. Shun stared at her for a moment more, thinking that she didn't look nearly as fierce when she was sleeping. In fact, she looked more childlike and innocent like that; not like the paranoid girl that he had come to know in the past few days.

Shun watched her curl up tighter as she tried to warm herself. He sighed, his breath coming out in a cloudy wisp, and unbuttoned the collar of his uniform and slid his arms out of the jacket. Now, thanks to the white tank he had been wearing underneath, his arms were exposed to the cold wind, and his skin prickled at the icy bite of nature.

But he didn't mind it; he was well used to the cold, thanks to many of the Queen's missions where he was in the colder climates of Wonderland. Shun then stood up and walked over to Alice. He knelt beside her and threw the white and red-accented jacket over the freezing girl.

Instantly, her shivering ceased, and she brought the jacket up higher to where it touched the base of her neck. Shun smiled for a moment, but it quickly faded away. He knew helping her like this wasn't going to ease the trust issues that had formed between them.

Not like he really cared if she trusted him or not, it would just make his time trapped in Looking Glass Lake a lot more tolerable than having her watching his every movement. Shun shook his head and returned to his spot in the grass beside the extinguished fire.

Before he laid back down, he chanced one last, quick glance over at the orange-haired girl to make sure that the jacket was truly enough to keep her warm. When he saw that it was, he laid back down and returned to his restless sleep.

_~O~_

Alice woke feeling rather rejuvenated; it had been a while since she had slept that well. She sat up and stretched her arms far above her head. When she did this, something fell from her shoulders and landed on her lap. Alice lowered her arms back down to her sides, and glanced down to see that the Champion's red and white uniform jacket had been placed on her sometime during the night.

She stared at it for a moment, then began to look around for him. Eventually, she found him sitting by the edge of the forest, sitting against the base of a tree. For a moment, Alice considered going over there and tossing the jacket back at him, and telling him how she didn't want his charity or sympathy.

But she quickly pushed that thought away before it became an action. He didn't have to do this, the same way she didn't have to help his wound when she first found him here. He could have just let her freeze all night long, but he didn't.

Alice decided not to let the gesture mean nothing more than a simple act of kindness, so that way she wouldn't make the mistake of trusting him. She stood up, the jacket held tightly in her hands, and made her way over to where the raven-haired boy sat.

His eyes were closed, and he looked like he was rather peaceful. When Alice stopped a few feet short of him, his eyes opened and the two, piercing amber orbs fell onto her. Perhaps Alice was growing used to their coldness, for they didn't strike as much fear into her as they used to.

Alice then remembered why she had come over here, and held out the white and red jacket to the Champion. "Thanks," she said without meeting his gaze. Why was this awkward for her? All she was doing was thanking him for this gesture.

Maybe it was awkward because of all the trouble she had given him and all the things she had said; she hadn't exactly been nice to him since they realized they were trapped here. Then again, she didn't have much of a reason to be nice to him, seeing as he was a killer.

Shun stood up and took the jacket from her. "You're welcome," he said and started to slip back into the jacket. "It looked like you needed more than I did last night." Alice continued to keep her eyes adverted from him and said, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I would have caught my death if you hadn't done that….Again, thanks."

She was about to walk away, but stopped, keeping her back turned to him, and added, "Don't think this means I trust you yet." She thought she might have heard the Champion let out a sigh, but wasn't sure if it was the savage wind that was blowing around. He then said, "I wasn't expecting you to."

Alice then closed her eyes, allowing the wind to wrap around her and cause her to relax. She then turn around and told the Champion, "But I guess I don't have to think that every single thing you do is in the name of killing me." Shun let out a somewhat humorless chuckle and said, "Nothing I have done here has been-"

He stopped mid-sentence, and Alice noticed that his eyes were fixed on something behind her. "What?" she asked and started to turn around and see what had caught the Champion's attention so easily. Before she had the chance to see what it was, Shun had grabbed her around her waist and shouted, "Get down!"

He pulled her to the side just as purple fire rained down on where they were standing. Alice, panic-stricken, looked up and saw what had attacked them. It was a dragon-like beast, tall and extremely skinny, with a head that somewhat resembled that of a fish.

"Wh-what is t-that?" Alice asked, her body trembling from fear. Beside her, Shun stood up and drew the sword that was sheathed on his left hip. "A Jabberwocky," he said with narrowed eyes, "I thought they were all extinct." The dragon creature reared back on his hind feet and let out an ear-splitting screech. Alice covered her ears with her hands and screamed.

Shun glanced over his shoulders and shouted at her, "Go into the woods and hide!" She removed her hands from her ears, but had just barely heard all of what he said, "What about you?" she asked, forcing herself to stand on her trembling legs.

The Champion turned back to face the beast and narrowed his eyes at it. "I'll be fine. You just worry about yourself," he said sternly. Alice, surprised by how he was able to stand in front of this monster without a drop of fear in his eyes, nodded and retreated back into the woods as he had told her.

The Jabberwocky let out another screech and charged at the Champion. Alice, who may have been afraid but still wanted to see what would happen, stopped and ducked behind a tree to watch. She watched Shun lead the dragon creature away from the forest and towards the vast field that surrounded the Lake.

He then ran underneath the beast and landed a slice on its belly. The Jabberwocky cried out, but Alice figured that the cut wouldn't be enough to take down the monster. It then reared its head back and spit out its purple fire at the Champion. Shun blocked himself with the sword, which was just enough to cut the flames in half and shield himself, even though Alice could tell he had gotten a little singed in the process.

The beast screeched again and ran at the Champion. Alice, still hiding behind her tree, found herself torn between wanting to watch and wanting to run. She was mesmerized by the bravery that was being executed out there with a certain grace that she found difficult to believe could come from somebody as violent as Shun.

When the Jabberwocky lowered its head down almost at ground level to attack, she watched as the Champion just stood there. Alice was about to shout at him to run, when, at the last possible moment, the raven-haired boy rammed the blade of the sword into the dragon's eye.

The monster screamed in agony and reared its head back. Shun, who had still been holding onto the hilt of the sword, was taken up as well. Now, as the Jabberwocky flailed its head around violently, Alice watched as the Champion held on tightly to keep from being thrown to the ground.

But the beast was growing aggravated from the pest that had taken the sight from one of its eyes, and in one good toss of the head, it was able to throw Shun off. The Champion flew through the air and landed on the ground, his body bouncing several times from the impact.

Then, for good measure, the Jabberwocky used the momentum of the throw to rid its eye of the sword. The blade went flying end over end, before finally sticking in the Earth a few yards away from where Alice was hiding. The Jabberwocky, with its one good eye, began to stalk towards where the disoriented Champion laid on the ground.

Shun struggled to try and sit up, then saw the dragon creature was closing in on him. He had no way of defending himself, and he was about ready to accept that this was going to be the end of him. The Jabberwocky lowered its head down and met face-to-face with Shun, its uninjured eye glaring at the Champion.

Shun, for the first time in a long time, actually felt the paralyzing sensation of fear. He could feel his heart racing violently in his chest, and he had a feeling the beast before him could hear it and was feeding off of this fear. Inside the creature's jagged-toothed mouth, Shun could make out the purple flames starting to form in the base of the dragon's throat.

He shut his eyes tightly, bracing himself for the scorching flames to consume him, when a shout came from nearby. Shun opened his eyes just in time to see Alice run up beside the Jabberwocky and pierce the monster's throat with his sword. Blood exploded out from where she had struck a major artery, covering both Alice and Shun.

The orange-haired girl quickly pulled the sword out of the monster's throat, and the Jabberwocky reared back, screaming in pain, before finally succumbing to its wounds and falling into the ground, causing the Earth the shake slightly for the force of the fall.

Alice stood there, covering in blood and holding the sword that she had used to slay the Jabberwocky, and stared at what she had just done. She had killed this monster by herself, which surprised her. She had been so scared and nearly paralyzed by fear to even comprehend what all was happening.

Yet, she had found the strength to do this. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Shun trying to sit up. Alice dropped the bloodstained sword and ran over to him. "Are you alright?" she asked and began to look over him for serious injuries.

She helped Shun to sit up, and when she did, all he did was stare at the limp body of the Jabberwocky. "Y-you…..You killed it," he said breathlessly. Alice wasn't sure if he was out of breath from the fight, from nearly being killed, or from some unseen injury.

But she saw fear filling his eyes to brim, a site that she was sure nobody in Wonderland had ever seen before. She also noticed that his hands were trembling slightly. Then, it must have all registered to the Champion what had happened and been too much for him handle, for he suddenly passed out.

* * *

before anyone thinks i'm calling Shun a wimp or something because i made him faint at the end, which i'm not, most people who have gone through Jabberwocky attacks and nearly been killed would naturally go into shock. :p wouldnt you? lol, read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	15. All In Good Time

_~O~_

Alice didn't know why she had done what she did. She didn't know why she had gone up there and attacked the Jabberwocky before it killed Shun. All she knew, was that the Champion's sword had been in front of her, and she acted. She didn't even know how she had mustered up the courage to go up there and face that hideous creature.

And yet, she did. Alice shook her head and glanced over at Shun, who was still unconscious. He had passed out shortly after Alice saved him from being killed by the Jabberwocky. At the time, she wasn't exactly sure why he had fainted, but after searching for any visible wounds that could have taken him from the realm of the conscious mind, she finally came to the conclusion that he had succumbed to shock.

That shouldn't have surprised Alice, but it did. Perhaps it was because she didn't think the Champion was capable of anything other than being cold and heartless. But what Alice saw out there after saving him from the Jabberwocky, had been pure fear. Alice was sure that nobody had ever seen the Champion show any signs of fear before, so she had a feeling that this must have been a rarity.

She knew he would wake up soon, but she wasn't so sure what to expect him to act like after that. Would he still be shaken up a bit? Or would he return to his stone-cold demeanor? It was rather hard for her to predict what side of him she would see next.

Alice shifted her gaze away from the Champion and towards the corpse of the Jabberwocky that laid almost on the other side of the Lake. With the setting sun, all she could make out was the outline of its body. Thinking back to how she had stabbed the creature right in a major artery, Alice looked down at herself.

She had washed the blood from her arms and other exposed parts, but her dress was starting to turn brown as the bloodstains on the fabric dried up. She didn't like the idea of having that thing's blood on her, but it wasn't like she had brought spare clothes with her when she fell down into Wonderland.

Maybe if she had known in advance that all of this would be happening, she would have packed more appropriately. But even the best of people would have been unable to foresee any of this happening, especially to her. Alice sighed and laid back on the cool grass, allowing the little blades to tickle the sides of her arms.

Behind her, she could hear the crackling of the fire that she had made shortly after the whole Jabberwocky incident. It was burning strong, and she had made sure it would, thanks to last night's mishap where the wind apparently had extinguished their campfire and left them with no form of heat.

Alice felt her face heat up a bit when she recalled how the Champion had sacrificed his own warmth and gave his jacket to her so she wouldn't freeze. She quickly chased those thoughts away, reminding herself not to let her guard down. But she quickly realized that it was getting rather difficult to keep it up.

After the kind gesture of the jacket, she had felt herself ease up a bit towards him because she knew he didn't have to do that. The Jabberwocky encounter earlier in the day had also softened her loathing towards him. While she had been completely oblivious to the giant, dragon-like beast that had snuck up behind them, Shun had reacted quickly and pulled her out of the way, saving her from the purple fires of the beast.

He had also put his own life on the line to make sure she got away safely, even though she didn't run very far. But if she hadn't stayed and hid behind a tree to watch, she would have never seen that Shun was in trouble, and thus, she would have never stepped in and saved him from a sure death.

Alice sighed and inched herself closer to the fire for some added warmth. The sun had officially gone behind the horizon, leaving behind cold air in its wake. Over the crackling of the campfire, Alice thought she heard Shun stir on the other side.

She quickly sat up and looked over the orange flames, somewhat disappointed to find that he was still unconscious. But she saw that he was moving a bit in his sleep, meaning that he could have only been having a nightmare. Alice couldn't help but find it strange that the ruthless Champion of the Red Queen was capable of having a nightmare.

She also wondered what he might have been dreaming about. Was it about being attacked by another Jabberwocky? Or something else entirely? She wished she could see inside his thoughts so she could learn a bit more about who she was going to be trapped here with for the rest of her life.

But she also wanted to know so she might be able to help him get through his hardships somehow. Alice sighed and was just about to lay back down, when she caught a glimpse of Shun's amber eyes opening. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked around, obviously a bit confused after waking from his dream.

I smiled slightly and said, "Hey, I see you're awake." He glanced over at me, then quickly adverted his gaze somewhere else. "Thank you for saving me back there," he said almost inaudibly. "It's nothing, really. I just acted…..In fact, I didn't even realize what I had done till after it happened," she told him honestly.

She still wasn't entirely sure what had come over her. The only way she could explain it, was that seeing him about to killed made something take over in Alice. She shook her head then said with a slight smile, "I guess I just didn't want to witness anyone get killed." Shun glanced over his shoulder at her, and Alice thought that his harsh amber eyes looked a bit more gentle.

He then turned and looked away from her again. The Champion remained silent for a moment, then said, "The last time I felt fear like that…Was before I became the Queen's Champion….I had forgotten what it felt like up until now." Alice could hear the strain in his voice. She knew that this was bothering him just by the way he spoke about it.

"Hey, fear is nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone experiences it from time to time. If we didn't, then how would we know what any of the other emotions felt like? Do you get what I'm saying?" she asked, trying to make this easier on the both of them.

Shun tilted his head back and looked up at the night sky. "Yeah, I suppose I do…..," his voice trailed off at the end. Alice figured that, of all people, Shun would have known the most about fear, seeing as he struck it into every soul in Wonderland. But as he had said a moment before, he apparently had forgotten what fear felt like. Alice could kind of understand what he had meant by that; he had no reason to be fearful, thanks to the Queen.

He was the greatest threat out there, next to the Queen, that is. Nobody dared stand up to him, so what need did he have for keeping fear? Alice frowned a bit, then sat down beside him. "I never got the chance to thank you for saving me back there," she told him, "I surely would have been roasted if you hadn't gotten me out of the way in time."

For a moment, she thought she saw the Champion smile, but when she looked closer, she figured it must have been a trick played by the flickering fire beside them. They sat there in a deathly silence for a moment. Alice, unable to stand the stillness any longer, told Shun, "I'm sorry if I've been rather a pain since we came here….It's just…..I've had to take in so much in so little time, and it has me overwhelmed….This was really no different…."

Again, a silence hung between them. But this time, it was Shun who broke it. "I understand what you're going through….I had to deal with all of it at one point as well." Alice wasn't exactly sure what he had meant by that, and her mind was growing to too tired to try and dig deeper into the Champion's statement.

"For you, though, I'm sure it will get easier to take all of this in, as long as you play your cards right," Shun added in, his voice sounding rather strained as he spoke.

Alice saw he was still gazing up at the sky, as if looking at something far, far away from where they were at. She then yawned and laid down on the grass where she sat beside Shun. And before she could even realize it, Alice had fallen asleep.

_~O~_

The Red Queen paced back and forth, a look of frustration and anger crystal clear on her face. Her red stilettos clicked on the cream-colored marble floor, acting as a metronome to her agitation. "I want them found!" she bellowed, her voice echoing throughout the throne room like cannon-fire.

Fabia had been trying desperately to get somebody, anybody, that could locate the roaming entrance to Looking Glass Lake so she could retrieve her Champion and the human that had fallen in with him. If the circumstances were any different than this, she would have let the two of them stay trapped in that Lake for the rest of their lives, for she didn't really care all that much, but the current conditions did not allow room to permit this.

With the Hatter captured and the illegal map they had found on his person, the Queen quickly realized that a rebellion was starting to form, and was going to be targeted towards her. And since the Hatter, despite nearly being beaten to death, refused to give up the names of his accomplices, she knew that the rebels that were involved with him were still out there, more than likely carrying on their captured leader's plans.

And, depending on how organized this rebellion was, the Queen knew she would need her Champion to help fight it back. The Knight that she had been talking to, was still kneeling in front of the marble staircase. He told her, "Your Majesty, you know that there is no way for us to get them out of Looking Glass Lake.

They are but a lost cause. Please, we can handle anything that the people of Wonderland try to throw at us. We do not need to Champion to crush them." Fabia felt her eyes blaze with anger as she turned and yelled at the Knight, "I don't care how capable you all may be! I want my Champion present there to crush this rebellion and make sure they are fear-stricken enough to never think of doing such a thing again!"

The Knight flinched back with each word that the Queen shouted. Fabia kept her piercing, green eyes locked on the Knight, striking fear into with each second that they were on him. He finally stuttered out, "Th-there might be a way f-for us to open a gate t-to the Lake, though."

The Queen felt her anger die down a bit, and she sat on her throne, one leg crossed over the other and her lithe fingers resting on his chin. "Do tell me, Knight. What is it that you are thinking," she purred, sounding completely opposite to how she had been a moment ago.

The Knight glances up at her through his crimson helmet and said, "In the Western Quadrant, I have heard rumors that there is a powerful magic-user that lives somewhere. He might be able to force a gate open and allow us to enter Looking Glass Lake and retrieve the Champion and the human."

Fabia tapped a perfectly manicured nail along the marble armrest of her throne and smiled deviously. "Then bring me this magic-user," she said devilishly. When the Knight didn't immediately get up, her anger bubble up and she yelled, "I said bring him to me!"

The Knight quickly scrambled up to his feet and said, "Yes, your Majesty!" Fabia watched him flee from her throne room, and once he was gone, she threw her head back and laughed a twisted, demented laugh. Her laughter ceased and she tapped her crimson-painted nails together meticulously. _Soon, my Champion. You will be back by my side, where you rightfully belong._

* * *

so, is everyone enjoying there Spring Break (for those of you who are on it)? I know I am, especially the whole lack of school thing. that's a major plus. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	16. Changing Perspectives

_~O~_

_You will be back by my side, where you rightfully belong. _Shun jolted awake and sat up, his heart racing. He swore that he had just heard the Queen's voice, and he began looking around, half expecting to see her lurking about in the shadows. But she was nowhere to be found. Shun relaxed a bit, but his hands still trembled slightly. When he saw this, he clenched his hands into fists to try and stop them from shaking.

He didn't like how he had been showing all these signs of fear; it made him feel weak, and weakness was something he didn't like to show. After a moment of taking in a couple of deep breaths, Shun had calmed himself down to the best of his abilities.

The Queen's voice certainly had startled him; especially the devious way he had heard what she said. But he knew not to let it get to him. He may have heard her saying that he would be back at her side, but it would be impossible for her to achieve something like that, seeing as there was no way for him to get out of Looking Glass Lake.

Besides, he wasn't even sure if he had the desire to ever leave. It was peaceful and calm there. Shun didn't have to worry about what the Queen's next request would be or anything like that. For the first time since he swore an Oath with the Red Queen, he felt free and at peace.

He didn't want to give any of it up. Just the sheer thought of having to leave this place almost was enough to cause a bit of anger to bubble up inside of him. Shun brought his knees up close to his chest and gazed up at the sky. The sky and its clouds were turning orange and red as the sun began to rise out on the horizon, creating a spectacular site that he hadn't seen in many years.

_Not since her reign began, _Shun thought to himself. All the magnificent sites in Wonderland had vanished the moment the Red Queen took control, leaving their world in nothing but darkness. _Perhaps all the good in Wonderland fled to here, _Shun mused. It certainly made sense.

Looking Glass Lake was untouchable for the most part; not even the Queen's vile touch could reach this place. Maybe that was another reason Shun found himself at ease here. He knew for sure that the Queen, or anybody in Wonderland, was unable to get into Looking Glass Lake.

At least, not on purpose. If they fell in on accident like he and Alice did, well, that was another story. But even though he knew that he was out of the Queen's reach, Shun couldn't shake the feeling of forewarning the had washed over him since he heard Fabia's voice.

"No, there's no way she can get in here," Shun said sternly under his breath. Yet, he still felt like he was lying to himself for some reason. Beside him, Alice stirred from her own sleep. She sat up, rubbed one of her chocolate brown eyes, then looked at him.

"What are you mumbling about?" she asked in a rather annoyed voice. Shun brought his hand up behind his neck, a nervous habit he had from time to time, and told her, "I must have been thinking out loud. Sorry if I woke you." He didn't want her to know that he was fearing that the Queen was trying to force her way into Looking Glass Lake; he had just gained some of Alice's trust, and he really didn't want to lose it by making her think he had lied to her.

The orange-haired girl sat up and stretched her arms far above her head as she shook off the remainder of her sleep. "It's alright. I have a feeling I would have woken up soon anyway," she said with a yawn. It certainly was much nicer being on good terms with her, rather than how she had been a couple of days ago, where she didn't even trust him to go and find food.

But Shun knew that she didn't completely trust him, for he could see she was still a bit apprehensive about being around him. He didn't hold that against her, though. He knew that she still hadn't forgotten about all the horrible things he had done for the Queen.

She probably would never forget those things, especially the fact that he had been sent out to find her and bring her back so she could face a certain death. Shun had to admit, though, he was rather glad that things had turned out like this instead of for the worse.

It had been a while since he had been in good company, much less spent this much time around another human. It felt…Normal. He didn't realize that he was smiling until Alice said something. "What's up with that smile? It's kind of freaking me out." Shun glanced over at her and let out a short chuckle.

"I didn't even realize I was smiling. But I was just thinking about some things. That's all," he told her and turned his gaze back to the sunrise. The sun was higher now, and soon, all of Looking Glass Lake would be ablaze in its light, providing warmth to things that had been frozen by the shadows of night.

Shun realized that, in a way, that kind of referenced him as of late. Except, while he had been with the Queen, there had been no sun to chase away the cold ice that had formed around him, no matter how badly he beckoned for it.

Now, he was far away from the Queen and her darkness, and in a place where the sun was able to rise everyday, and Shun could feel that he wasn't acting anywhere near how he did when he was with the Queen or under her orders. He was actually acting like how he used to be, and that made him want to stay in this place all the more.

_~O~_

Alice snuck a glance over at the Champion. His gaze was locked on the rising sun, and he appeared to be lost in his thoughts. There was something that she had begun to notice, though. With each day that they spent here, the Champion seemed to be changing.

His eyes had seemed less cold, his voice had gotten less harsh, and Alice was beginning to wonder if he was even the same person that she first encountered at the Hatter's tea party. She remembered how heartless he seemed, and how the way he carried himself was the intimidating thing that Alice had ever witnessed.

Now, all of those fear-inducing qualities seemed to be fading away. If you had told Alice that Shun and the person she first saw at the tea party were the same people, she might have laughed. She would have said they kind of looked the same, but were far from it. That was how drastically he had appeared to alter to her.

This wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Alice kind of liked seeing this nicer side of the Champion, rather than a side whose only purpose was to serve the Queen and cause pain. Alice felt a slight knot form in her chest when she realized that, even though he may have been changing, it didn't change the fact that he had done so many horrible things.

But she was seeing that he wasn't entirely a bad person. _More like a lost soul, _she thought to herself. Alice was a bit confused now. She wanted to accept this different side of the Champion, to have him as an ally. But she was unsure if she could forgive him for all the things he had done.

True, none of what he did affected her personally. Well, in a way, they kind of did because now, she was the face of the Hatter's rebellion. If the Champion had never done all of those things, had never struck fear into the people of Wonderland, then she wouldn't have been chosen to help take down the Queen.

But when she thought about it, it really didn't matter now. She was trapped in this place for the rest of her life, unable to help the Hatter in his fight against the Red Queen. Maybe, with time, she would be able to forget all the things Shun had done, especially if he continued to show this different side of himself.

Alice took her gaze away from the Champion and looked out at the Lake. It mirrored the sky perfectly, just like a piece of looking glass. The water ripple and distorted the site of the orange sky and its similarly colored clouds. She smiled, finding the site to be calming, even though she was already very at ease.

This Lake, this place, it was good for the soul, she just knew it was. Shun was a perfect example of that. How else could one explain that change that he was showing? Still smiling, Alice's eyes scanned down the Lake until they fell on the corpse of the Jabberwocky at the far end. Her smile waned a bit, but still stayed strong.

The encounter with that creature had helped for a small chain of trust between her and the Champion. If they hadn't been attacked, Alice was sure she still would have been unable to bring herself to even sit near him. Now, she didn't mind being within close quarters, even though she was still a bit apprehensive.

Alice could see that the ground beneath the Jabberwocky was starting to swallow the carcass up, returning it to the confines of the Earth. She was rather grateful that the creature was vanishing like that, instead of normal methods like decaying; the last thing she wanted was to watch that massive beast rot.

Alice tore her gaze away from the corpse and out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Shun was standing now. He said to her, "I don't know about you, but I'm getting rather hungry. If you don't mind, I'll go out and bring us back something to eat. I'll even bring you some of those yellow berries, seeing as you liked them so much."

Alice felt her face heat up at his little jab of humor. He knew that she didn't like those yellow berries and that she had only eaten all of them because that was the only food that he brought her that she trusted. Alice jumped up to her feet and said, "Why don't I come with you? That way you can show me what all is edible and what isn't."

Shun smirked at her and said sarcastically, "I thought you trusted me." Alice narrowed her eyes at him, but had a slight grin of her own as well. "I do. It's just that I wouldn't feel right having you doing _all _of the work while I lay around and do nothing," she told him while walking towards the woods and waving a nonchalant hand.

Trust had nothing to do with her wanting to go with him. She really did want to learn what plants were edible so that way, if something happened to Shun or they were separated somehow, she could fend for her herself.

It was a safety measure, and after the whole Jabberwocky thing the day before, it might as well been a necessary measure; if one of those supposedly extinct things got down here, then surely more could as well.

Shun walked past her, taking the lead, and said, "Alright, then. I hope you can keep up because I'm not going to stop and wait for you. Remember, you asked for this."

Alice grinned and narrowed her eyes at him and retorted, "Or is it you that's asking for it by letting me tag along?" As they entered into the forest that surrounded Looking Glass Lake, they exchanged jabs at one another like that for a while before finally starting the task at hand.

* * *

as you can see, they are warming up a bit to each other. something else was supposed to happen in this chapter, but I have decided to try and put that idea in the next chapter. i am also trying to stretch the story out so it at least reaches 20 chapters, so this was kind of a bit of a filler. gotta love them filler chapters. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	17. Through The Looking Glass

_~O~_

It was nearly dark by the time they arrived back at their make-shift campsite. Both Shun and Alice carried a small bundle of edible plants and berries that they were able to scrounge up, and Alice had to admit, she had had a pretty good time. She had learned several things about the plants that inhabited Looking Glass Lake, like which she could eat and which might have had some kind of medicinal purpose.

But she had also somewhat enjoyed spending that time hanging around Shun; it had given her a chance to examine him further and see if he really was turning into somebody else. Alice felt kind of guilty for still doubting whether or not he was on her side or not, but she couldn't help but be too careful, that was just how she was.

She had always been cautious and slow to trust, especially if she had a reason to be. Alice had fallen behind a bit, and hurried to catch up with Shun so she wouldn't get lost in the identical-looking trees; she didn't really know the forest by memory yet, and she didn't feel like learning it right then and there.

She caught up to him, and when she did, she quickly realized that Shun had stopped right at the edge of the forest. His amber eyes were wide with surprise and locked onto something. Immediately, Alice thought they were about to be attacked by another Jabberwocky.

She quickly looked out into the clearing, half-expecting to see some kind of vicious beast stalking around out there. Instead, she found something else entirely. It was the Lake. A silver-like mist rose up from the water's surface, and the darkness of the night made the metallic color stand out all the more.

Alice asked, "Has it always done that?" She had looked out at the Lake many times since arriving there, and never once had she noticed it doing something like this. The site itself was rather mesmerizing and beautiful, but it was a strange event, which made Alice feel a bit apprehensive about it.

Shun shook his head and told her, "No, not since we've been here. But I've heard some stories about this Lake," he said calmly and stepped out into the field that surrounded the Lake. Never once did he take his gaze from the water and the sparkling mist the rose from it, even when he set down the bundle of plants he had been holding.

Alice hurried after him and set her own bundle down beside him. "What kind of stories?" she asked as she joined him at his side. Shun narrowed his eyes and said, "That Looking Glass Lake is more than just some ordinary lake. I've heard many variations of the story, but they all revolve around the same concept; it shows a person their strongest and most powerful memories."

Alice turned her attention from the Champion to the Lake. "Like a mirror into the soul, huh?" she asked. Shun nodded. "I always thought the story was just something made up for kids. Looks like it was more than just a child's fairytale," he stated. Alice felt her curiosity pique; she wanted to know exactly how this Lake could see into her soul and reveal her most powerful memories.

"It's not supposed to be dangerous, is it?" she asked, finding it hard to keep her curiosity from pulling her towards the body of water. The Champion shook his head and told her, "I don't think so. If it were dangerous, I doubt people would tell the story to their kids."

That was all Alice needed to here. She didn't defy her curiosity any longer, and began to approach the Lake. Behind her, she heard Shun asked her, "What are you doing?" Alice glanced over her shoulder and replied, "What's it look like? I'm seeing if this Lake does what you say it does."

She could see the surprise in his eyes; perhaps he didn't think she was bold enough to jump in head-first like this. But when Alice's curiosity was this piqued, she couldn't deny it of even the most mundane things. She turned her head back around and continued to approach the Lake.

As she got closer, stray wisps of the silver mist brushed against her skin, leaving behind a cool sensation from its touch. It wasn't cold enough to cause Alice a chill or anything like that; it was more like a kind of coolness that was inviting. Alice now stood right at the water's edge, allowing the silver mist to circle around her, as if the wisps were playing.

She could feel the Champion's eyes boring holes in her from behind as he watched, but she ignored it and took one step into the water. It was ankle deep right along the edge, and reached just above her white shoes. She then put her other foot in, and the moment it touched the water, the silver mist turned a light blue color and began to swirl around, as if a powerful wind had disrupted it all, but not a single breeze blew.

"Alice!" Shun yelled at her from behind, obviously taken aback by the mist's reaction to her going into the Lake. The sudden change startled Alice a bit as well, but she didn't run away. She forced herself to stay and see this through to the end.

The now blue mist settled down and wrap around her, and it felt almost like it was examining her. Alice stood perfectly still and allowed it to do what it had to. After a moment or two, the mist floated away and gathered out in the center of the Lake.

Shapes began to form in the confines of the blue wisps, and next thing Alice knew was that she was seeing her memories coming to life. The first memory it showed her, was of when she was about six or so, and she was placed in the care of her grandfather.

She recalled that she had been apprehensive about the whole transition from her parent's home to his after their deaths, but soon realized that she had never been happier than when he took her in. The memories from her early childhood went on by, some of them Alice remembered, others she had completely forgotten.

_These are my memories that have the greatest power, huh? _she thought to herself. It made sense; all that she had seen thus far were the happiest moments in her life, and happiness certainly was a powerful thing. Now, her memories had caught up with her arrival in Wonderland.

The mist showed her first meeting with the Hatter, and how he had put his self before her to hide her from the Champion. Alice realized right then that this was something that Shun didn't know. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that he seemed a bit surprised to know that I had been right there under his nose, and he never knew it.

For some reason, that brought a bit of a mischievous grin to Alice's face. Maybe she felt special for being able to so easily trick the Queen's illustrious Champion. She turned back to her memories, and saw that the one that was being projected now was of the other day when the Jabberwocky attacked, and Shun had saved her.

Alice felt her face heat up a bit. She hadn't thought that this would have been considered a powerful memory, but she apparently had been wrong. Then again, this was when she had truly begun to trust the Champion and felt that she could reside in him. That was where her memories ended.

The blue mist returned to its playful, silver color and spread back out across the Lake. Alice stood there in the water for a moment, staring out at the site and feeling completely mesmerized.

Allowing the Lake to see inside of herself had truly been quite the experience, and she wondered if she allowed it to project her memories again if it would show her standing out in the water, gazing at her memories.

Alice snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Shun's voice behind her. "Are you alright?" he asked her. She glanced over her shoulder and looked at him, then smiled. "Never better."

_~O~_

Shun had been staring in awe as the Lake revealed some of Alice's most powerful memories, but several had caught him off guard. One such was where she had been with the Hatter and had slipped past him unnoticed. But when he thought about it, if it hadn't been for that little event right there, then Alice would have been taken to the Queen and face a certain death, rather than them being trapped in Looking Glass Lake.

Shun would have never had the experiences of this place, or what all had happened in it. The blue mist suddenly changed shape again, and showed him saving Alice from the purple flames of the Jabberwocky. Shun found himself somewhat surprised by this; he didn't think that his actions would have left that powerful of an imprint in her mind.

Then, the memories ceased and the blue mist turned back to silver to show that it was done with her subconscious mind. Shun quickly hurried over to the water's edge to make sure that Alice was alright. When she turned around and smiled at him and said that she was fine, he felt himself relax a bit; he didn't think he would have been able to stand himself if this Lake had somehow hurt her and he had allowed it to happen.

He saw she was just about to get out of the water, but stopped and turned her gaze up to him. "You should try this," she said cheerfully, "it's definitely a unique experience." Shun felt himself tense up and he took a small step away from the Lake's edge.

"I-I…..I'd rather not," he stammered out. Alice tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Why not? Don't tell me you're afraid of the water or something," she said and smiled at her little jab at the end. But Shun didn't find himself smiling at this matter.

This Lake's purpose was to dig into his memories and reveal the ones that held the most powerful emotions over him, and that terrified him. He didn't want to know what it would show. Alice's smile faded into a frown, and he hoped she realized that he really didn't want to allow the Lake to invade into his thoughts.

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Alright, then. Hey, can you help me out? I think my feet have sunk into the mud a bit." Shun reached his hand out to her, but the moment she took hold of it, he realized that it was a trap. Alice quickly pulled him in, while she climbed out and stood where he had been.

The moment his feet landed into the water, the silver mist sought him out and wrapped around his body. Shun tried to get out, but found that the Lake wasn't allowing it; he was stuck there until it showed him everything it wanted to.

While the mist was still around him, it suddenly turned a dark shade of purple and scurried out to the center of the Lake to project the memories it had gathered. The mist changed shapes, and next thing he knew, he was looking at when he first arrived in Wonderland.

He was surprised to see that he appeared more scared than he remembered to be. Shortly after that, was when he first met the Hatter and was taken into their humble abode. They had cared for him like one of their own, and the memory sickened him when he thought about what he had done to them.

The purple mist suddenly trembled and turned red; blood-red. It showed the memory of when he was captured by the Queen and thrown into a prison cell, where he waited for his death. The Queen then appeared in the cell, and although he could not hear any of what was being said, Shun knew that this was where he was offered his ultimatum; either die or serve as the Red Queen's Champion.

The mist's shape shifted once more, but as it did, it shifted color once more. This time, it turned black. Now, Shun found himself looking at the memory of when he was ordered to slaughter the Hatter's family, the very people that had taken him in while he had been lost in this strange world.

He watched in horror once more as he saw the Hatter's expression. That look of betrayal had haunted Shun everyday of his existence after that, and now, he was being forced to see it once again as it truly had been. As Shun stood there, he knew that no more memories would show after this; they were all nothing compared to those that the Lake had just revealed.

These were his greatest memories, his nightmares, the very ones that he tried so desperately to keep locked away in the depths of his subconscious so they wouldn't trouble him. Now, they were running loose, assaulting his senses as he remembered each and every single things about those days.

The black mist finally dispersed, returning back to silver and spreading back out across the Lake. Shun lost his balance and fell back into the water. He sat there and brought his trembling hands up to the side of his head and felt the tears break free.

_~O~_

Alice hated herself for what she did. If she had known that the Lake would show these horrible memories to Shun, she would have never pulled him into the water. She felt like a terrible person for doing something like this.

Alice had several questions running through her mind, but knew that it was not the time to ask any of them; she could wait till later and when everything calmed down. The mist finally broke apart, freeing Shun from their grip. Alice watched as he fell back into the water and sat there, trembling from the memories.

She then heard sobs escaping him, which only made her current guilt skyrocket even further. Alice was just about to run to his side, when she noticed that the silver mist in the Lake suddenly began to vanish, signaling that its hour was up.

She snapped herself back into focus and ran out into the water and knelt beside the trembling Champion. His face was hidden from her by his hair and hands that where held tightly to the side of his head. She reached out to place her hand on his shoulder and said, "Shun, I'm so sorry. I should have-"

Just when her hand was about to make contact, it was suddenly slapped away. Alice sat there, staring in surprise to find that harsh, cold eyes were turned on her. "Don't touch me," he said harshly, his voice strained. She could tell just by the way he spoke and glared at her, that Shun couldn't stand even the sight of her at the moment.

Alice didn't blame him the least bit. Pulling him into the Lake against his will was extremely out of line for her. It was obvious that Shun knew that the Lake might show him those awful memories, and yet, Alice ignored him and went against his wishes.

Shun stood up, dripping wet from where the fabric absorbed the water. He then walked out of the Lake, never once even giving a second of his time to even glance down at her, and returned over to the fire that they had been sharing since arriving there.

Alice saw his dark silhouette lay down beside the charred remains of the fire, which hadn't been lit yet. She stood from her kneeling position in the water and walked back onto land. She couldn't even bring herself to think of going over there and lay down on the other side of the site of the fire.

So, Alice sat on the edge of the Lake and buried her face into her knees, knowing that she would be lucky if she was ever forgiven for causing him that much pain.

* * *

i don't want my spring break to end DX somebody please hurry up and invent a time machine this week so i can keep this break going. please? i'm sure many people would love you forever. -does puppy dog eyes- read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	18. Hurt And Comfort

_~O~_

He didn't sleep, and if he did, it was only for a couple of seconds; his mind was in that much turmoil. Shun rolled over onto his back and stared up at the night sky, finding that it was filled with vast expanses of stars that separated it from the Earth.

After the whole ordeal at the Lake, Shun had taken his emotions out on Alice. He closed his eyes and took in a deep, shaky breath; he still hadn't fully calmed down from what the Lake had showed him. But he realized that keeping his mind occupied on Alice helped to offer him some relief from the assault that his memories had struck him with.

Shun knew that she had pulled him into that water with all the best intentions, so it wasn't like he was able to place all the blame on her. Alice had no way of knowing that any of that would happen, that the Lake would show those horrible moments of his past.

And because of that, Shun held no ill feelings towards like he had right after he escaped the grip of the Lake. He sat up and rested his elbows on his knees. Alice had never left the edge of the Lake, and as far as he knew, she might have fallen asleep over there, all because she didn't want to face him.

It was obvious that poor Alice was beating herself up over this whole ordeal, and that only made Shun feel all the worse about how he had reacted, how he had slapped her hand away and pushed away the kindness and comfort she had been trying to offer him to make up for her own actions.

Shun glanced up and looked at the silhouette of her form lying on the ground before the Lake. He knew she had to be cold there, for even he was feeling a chill in the night air that was getting to him; that chill might have been vanquished if he had bothered to build a fire, but his jumbled mind hadn't thought of it at the time. Shun let out a sigh and stood up.

He walked over to the small pile of sticks that Alice had gathered for firewood, and took several out of the pile and threw them onto the charred remains. Using what he already knew, and few easy tricks that Alice had showed him, he got a fire started.

The orange flame burned bright with newly gifted life, and instantly returned the favor by providing warmth against the cold night air. Shun savored in the heat for a moment before he left the fire's side and made his way over to Alice. As he approached her, she didn't stir; either she was sound asleep, didn't hear him, or didn't want to acknowledge his presence.

He knelt down beside her and saw that she was asleep, and by the look on her face, a rather restless one, at that. She was also shivering from the cold, and Shun was reminded of several nights ago where he had given her his jacket while she had been asleep.

That was back when she didn't even trust him enough to breathe without her supervision on him, and Shun thought that they were past that line of distrust, but even he couldn't predict the future and know that something like this would happen. Shun reached down and placed his hand on her should, and gently shook her awake.

Alice sat up and let out a groggy sound of displeasure at being woken from her slumber. Her brown eyes then found Shun, and he could see the pain and guilt in them, for it was the very same as what he had been feeling. Shun motioned back towards the blazing fire and said, "Why don't you come back over there next to the fire? You'll freeze if you stay over here."

Her gaze moved past him and towards the orange flames that licked greedily at the air above them. He could see the desire to be over there, to absorb in the heat and rid herself of the cold that had wrapped around her. Shun stood up and extended his hand out to her to help her up.

"Come on," he told her in the most gentle voice he could muster, but it still sounded a bit harsh. Alice tore her longing gaze from the fire and placed it on his hand. She sat there for a moment, then placed her hand in his, allowing him to help her up to her feet.

Shun led her back over towards the fire that he built, and neither one of them didn't say anything on that short walk back. He sat in his spot beside the fire, and Alice took her place on the other side. She sat as close as she could get without getting burned by a popping ember, and held her hands out so they could get warm.

Shun saw the relief in her face as the heat chased away the cold that encompassed her. He felt bad for causing her to push herself away, especially now that he saw how bad it had been for her well-being. Alice brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them; her eyes remained fixed on the fire.

Shun leaned back on his elbows, propping himself up off the ground and sighed under his breath. He was about to say something to her, to apologize for the way he acted back there, but she beat him to it. "I'm sorry, you know that right?…What I did back there…..It was uncalled for. I should have known that there was a reason that you didn't want to go into the Lake…..I'm sorry," she told him.

He could hear her voice straining at the end, and Shun knew that she was probably close to crying. He looked at her over the orange flames and told her, "I should be that one that's sorry…..The way I reacted….It was irrational, even for me…..There was no need for me to take emotions out on you. I wasn't angry that you threw me in there. I was angry because of the memories. You did nothing wrong."

Alice sat up a little straighter upon hearing that he did not hold her accountable. "So, you forgive me then?" she asked, sounding almost child-like. Shun gave her a single nod and a small smile, knowing that was all he had to do to let her know he was being truthful.

Alice's eyes then fell back onto the fire and she said, "Okay, then. Do you mind if I ask you something then?" Shun was a bit surprised by her request. Either Alice was still unsure if she was back on good terms with him, or there was something serious to this question.

"Sure," he told her, curious to know what the girl wanted to ask him. She tore her gaze from the fire and locked her eyes with his, piercing his soul with their seriousness, and asked, "Why?"

_~O~_

Alice knew her simple, one word question had caught the Champion off guard and confused him; it was clear as day when his expression changed. Yeah, she was relieved that he forgave her, that he didn't blame her for what had happened, even though she still felt it was her fault.

But Alice decided that this moment was a perfect to ask that question that had been boggling her mind since she saw his memories; _why? _Shun raised an eyebrow and repeated what she had asked. "Why? Why what?" Alice adverted her gaze to the Lake and finished up the rest of her question.

"Why did you do all those things?" She could feel her hands trembling with adrenaline. That had been a question on her mind since she learned about the Champion, since she knew that he had done horrible things in the name of the Queen. But seeing those memories, seeing how miserable he had been during all that time, it made Alice wonder why he did them, why he didn't refuse his orders.

She could feel Shun's stare boring holes into her, but they weren't like when she was walking out to the Lake. No. When he had been staring that time, she knew it was out of concern and worry. This time, it was more of confusion, and maybe even persecution.

"You mean the requests from the Queen?" he asked, making sure that he fully understood what she had asked him. Alice nodded, never taking her gaze away from the Lake. Even then, she could still see the phantom memories out there in purple, red, and black, each one worst than the last.

"You think I _wanted _to do all those things?" he asked her, his voice sharp like a pointed knife. Alice grabbed onto a piece of her tattered dress skirt and fisted a handful of the fabric in her hands to stop her hands from trembling. She then turned around and looked Shun square in the eyes again.

She almost couldn't speak because of the way his eyes showed what he felt; persecution, disbelief, and maybe even a tint of anger. But Alice pushed those things away and said sternly, "If you didn't want to do those things, then why did you? Why didn't you just refuse the orders to kill the Hatter's family, especially when you obviously knew them and they were your friends? Why didn't you refuse any of your orders?"

There were many other questions running through her mind, but she was only able to get so many out at a time. Alice felt the adrenaline that had built up, suddenly drop down to nothing when she could no longer see the Champion's eyes.

They were hidden behind his black bangs, shielding the amber orbs from her sight. "I didn't want to," he said, his voice trembling, "but I didn't have much of a choice." Alice knew that prying him like this would probably anger him and stir emotions that hardly anybody has ever seen from the Champion, but now was the time to ask them.

Not later, when they felt like everything was alright. The best time, was right then and there after those memories had revealed these things. Alice just hoped that he would understand that she deserved to know, that he would have to tell her eventually, or else whatever trust they supposedly had would all be a lie.

"Everyone has a choice," Alice said sternly and was about to add onto that, but was cut off. Shun's eyes were no longer hidden behind his bangs as he brought his gaze up to meet hers. "I don't have a choice!" he shouted. "I've never had a choice."

The rage in his voice died down to almost nothing as he said that last statement. He also adverted his eyes down to the base of the fire, no longer meeting her gaze head-on. "What do you mean by that, Shun?" Alice asked, realizing that this might have been more than just black and white.

Shun told her in an almost trembling voice, "That memory, the one that was red where I was locked away and the Queen came into my cell…..She offered me a deal. I could either die or stay alive. If I wanted to live, I had to take on the roll as her Champion. I hope it's quite obvious which one I chose…But she took a precaution to make sure that I didn't betray her or defy her orders….She made me swear a Blood Oath with her, binding me to her until one of us dies."

Alice could see that it was getting difficult for Shun to talk about this piece of his past. She asked him, "Then why didn't you ever just kill the Queen? You know, wait till her back was turned and put an end to it all?" Shun ran a hand through his short, black hair and shook his head.

"It's not that simple…..The Oath she made me swear….It has more control over me than you think…..If I ever tried to, or even thought of defying her….She could take control over my will. Hell, she could make me kill myself if she wanted to…..That's why I never disobeyed. That's why I did whatever she said…..It was all because I didn't want her to take what bit of freedom I had left…She already had taken everything from me…..I wasn't going to allow her to take my last sliver of freedom."

Shun glanced up at Alice and told her, "That's why I enjoy being trapped here in this Lake…..It's a place she cannot reach me….A place that she can't use me as some kind of decisive weapon….This place allows me to have all the freedom that I lost when I accepted her offer."

Alice realized that this really was more than black and white. It was so much more. It was common knowledge that the Champion had done terrible things in Wonderland, but none of it had been by his own choice. He did those things so he could hold onto the last bit of his freedom, of his humanity, for if the Queen exerted the full power of their Oath, he would have been nothing more than a mindless puppet that was at that vile witch's mercy.

Shun was as much of a victim of the Red Queen as anyone else in Wonderland, even the Hatter. He wasn't the bad guy, he wasn't the villain. He was just another life that had been tormented and twisted around by a power-hungry tyrant.

Alice stood up and walked around to his side of the fire, where she knelt down in front of the Champion. Now that she was closer, she could see that tears had started to form in his amber eyes, which were no longer cold and harsh, but rather somewhat scared and lonely.

Shun glanced up at her, then adverted his gaze away, as if he were ashamed to be seen like this. And perhaps he was, seeing as he had created this appearance of being cold and unforgiving. But Alice had broken through that appearance and revealed who was beneath that cold exterior; who he really was.

She then wrapped her arms around him in a hug, and felt Shun tense in surprise by the sudden action, but he quickly relaxed when he realized what she was doing. Alice, still holding him in her embrace, told him, "Don't worry anymore. That witch can't reach you here, remember? She can't reach either of us here. You're safe. We're safe."

* * *

i was listening to Rue's Lullaby by District Tribute while writing the ending of this chapter, and might i add, that song really fits kind of well with this. so, do check it out if you wish and read the ending to see if you agree, or if i'm just crazy. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	19. The Calm Before The Storm

_~O~_

Shun didn't really know what to make of all of this. He had been sure that upon learning the truth of his past, Alice would have still been just as apprehensive and cautious around him, but he had been wrong. She had accepted it, and provided comfort while he fought with the emotions that speaking of those times brought with them. Shun glanced down at where Alice had fallen asleep beside him sometime ago.

She appeared to be resting easily, which he was unable to do now that his mind was wide awake. He looked at her and wondered how somebody could be as caring and understanding as her. If he had been in her place and listening to somebody spill their entire past to him, Shun figured he wouldn't have known what to do in response.

But Alice reacted as if it all came naturally to her, like there was no challenge in knowing what to do to comfort people. Shun stood up and left the side of the fire, feeling the air grow colder as he left the reach of the dying flames. Without realizing, he found that he had walked right up to the edge of the Lake.

Shun instantly remembered what kind of special properties this Lake had, but calmed down when he saw that the mist was still gone, making him believe that its ability to show memories was limited to certain times or conditions. He knelt down beside the water's edge and looked down at his reflection.

Natural waves and ripples distorted his image, but he could still see it clearly through all the imperfections. The water stilled for a bit, allowing for a more clear image of himself. Shun realized that he looked more like he did in the first memory that the Lake projected; lost and scared.

It was obvious at this point that his time he had spent trapped in the Lake had started to change him. He was no longer the cold, ruthless individual that he made himself out to be for the Queen. Now, he was just being who he really was. _Whoever that is, _he thought bitterly.

Shun had noticed something about the memories that were shown to him by the Lake, but didn't realize it until later; they all were memories of his time in Wonderland. Alice had seen some of her past experiences in the world above, such as the memory of her when she was younger and placed into the care of that elderly man.

Shun, though, had known for a while that he no longer retained any of his memories from before he arrived in Wonderland. He had spent so many years in the whimsical place and had to accept it as his home, that his memories from before then had slowly faded away.

It never bothered him that he couldn't recall what his old home looked like, or who he might have associated himself with. To him, they were meaningless things that had no relevance in Wonderland or mattered to him, and he quickly realized that they would hold no importance for him after he swore his Oath to the Queen, for he knew he would never return up to the real world.

Again, it never bothered him. None of it ever bothered him. The way Shun rationalized it, if he declined the Queen's offer, he would have been killed. If he accepted, he would get to live, but certainly never get to return back home. Regardless, he would never see that old life again, never be able to tell anyone the things he saw in Wonderland.

Maybe that should have bothered him, but he saw no point in fretting over simple things like that. It was much simpler to carry on, to let those memories and worries fade into the distance. He only wished he had been able to rid himself of the memories that had been shown to him by the Lake, but that was impossible.

Those memories had constant reminders all throughout Wonderland, so it never mattered where he went, a reminder would be there, stirring the memory up to the surface. Shun was still staring down at the water when a stray leaf floated down and landed right on his reflection.

The leaf's touch distorted the mirror-like image and temporarily made him disappear. But his reflection came back shortly after, and the leaf drifted out into the Lake. Shun returned his attention back to his image in the water. It was still the same, nothing changed about it even though something had come along and altered it for a moment.

He realized something incredibly simple from that act of nature; no matter what happened to him, or what changed him, he was still the same. He might have gotten lost every now and again, but in the end, there was hardly anything different about him. Shun tore his gaze from the water and looked over his shoulder at the campfire.

Alice was still sleeping beside it, and from where Shun was at, it didn't look like he had moved at all. He stood up and returned back to his place by the fire, feeling the kind warmth it gave off as it chased away the chilling cold that had tried to take hold of him.

Out on the horizon, the sun was beginning to rise, turning the sky brighter with each passing minute. Shun turned his gaze away from the sunrise and placed it on Alice. She squinted as the sunlight hit her eyes, and rolled over to face her back to the light.

Shun found himself smiling at this. He wasn't going to deny that she was definitely different from the other humans that the Queen had sent him after the catch, but he couldn't really explain what made her so different. Maybe she wasn't the same as the rest because he had bothered to spend time around, to get to know her, rather than carrying out orders.

Or maybe it was something about the way that one minute she could be scared, another she could be a fierce fighter, and then be kind and gentle. Shun let out a short yawn, feeling the weight of sleep finally starting to catch up to him; he knew it wouldn't be much longer before he fell asleep. He laid down on his back, gazing up at the brightening sky, and continued to let his thoughts flow freely.

Shun wondered what Alice exactly was to him. A friend? An acquaintance? He thought about how understanding and accepting she was of his past, even when he didn't want to accept it. He thought about how she had been ready to let him spill the deep secrets he had been keeping holed up inside of himself, and how she had listened to them.

He thought about when it was the last time he had had somebody he could turn to, and talk about anything. The last time that was had to have been when he was staying with the Hatter. After that, it had only been himself and nobody else.

But now, he did have somebody to turn to; it wasn't just himself anymore. Being around her and letting her provide him comfort had made him realize how much he had missed the contact with somebody else, and not just mentally, but also physically. Shun then put it all together as best he could.

Alice was a weight that kept him grounded, somebody that allowed him to be who he really was, even after so many years of being lost. She kept him sane when he was so close to losing his sanity in their insane world. But maybe there were things that were deeper than her just being something that kept him grounded and at peace.

She was also a connection to the world above, a way for him to live with the hollow places in his mind where those memories had faded. He didn't need those memories of the real world if he had Alice with him, for she was the real world. She reminded him somewhat of how that world had been, how people had been.

In a way, she was almost like a missing part of him. She was a way for him to become whole again after being broken into little pieces. And it didn't matter to Shun if she thought of him the same way.

As long as she was there with him, whether as friends or more, he would have that missing piece, and he would be fine. Content with how he had answered his question of what Alice was to him, Shun closed his eyes and allowed himself to finally fall asleep.

_~O~_

The Knights threw an old man before the steps that led up to the Queen's throne. She sat in her marble throne and narrowed her eyes down at the elderly man. He was clothed in a long, brown robe, and the hood of it hid his face from her sight. His hands were tied together, restricting his movements to almost nothing.

A Knight standing behind the man bowed and fisted his hand over his heart. "The magic-user you asked us to bring to you, your Majesty," he said formally. Fabia smiled devilishly down at the old man. It had been a couple of days since she sent her Knights out to bring her the man, and she knew if she had sent her Champion out to get him, the man would have been brought to her a lot quicker.

But that choice was out of the question, for her Champion was still trapped in Looking Glass Lake. So, the Queen had had no choice but to wait patiently for her Knights to take out the task on their own. Fabia stood up from her throne and stepped down the marble steps.

She now stood before the robed man. His head was bowed down, the hood of his robe hiding his face from her even further. "What is it you want from me, Red Queen?" the magic-user asked in a raspy voice. Fabia tapped a manicured nail on her chin and purred, "Oh, nothing much. I just need you to create a door for me."

The magic-user never looked up at her when he asked, "And where would that door lead to? If it is just a door you seek, your Majesty, then I am the wrong person you are speaking to." The Queen threw her head back and laughed, but it wasn't filled with an ounce of humor.

"You misunderstand me, then. This door will lead to somewhere….Somewhere very special and unique." She trailed her nails along the shoulders of the magic-user's brown robe. He didn't even so much as flinch under her icy touch. "Where will it lead, then? You tell me, and I will let you know if it is within my grasp," he said gruffly.

Fabia removed her hand from his shoulders and returned back up to her throne. She sat on the marble structure and crossed her legs. "I want a door opened to Looking Glass Lake," she said, her voice flat and void of any emotion. The magic-user then began to laugh a wet, gargling laugh.

Fabia sat up straight and shouted, "What is so funny?!" The old man's laughter slowly died down as he recomposed himself. "You must be Mad to make such a request," he stated. Fabia stood up and tossed the long, red train of her dress off to the side as a movement of power and authority.

"I am no such thing! Do not play dumb with me, magician! It is common knowledge that you are the most powerful in all of Wonderland." Her lips then curled up into a twisted smile, even wider than the Cheshire Cat's. She then said deviously, "And I also know something about you, magician. You are the only known being in Wonderland that had escaped Looking Glass Lake by using your magic."

Fabia saw the magic-user tense beneath his robe and smiled. Behind the old man, her Knights also looked surprised; Looking Glass Lake was supposed to be inescapable. So, to know that somebody did get out, was news to them.

The magic-user growled and asked, "How do you know such a thing?" Fabia laughed and told him, "My husband, before his untimely death, told me about your escape and how surprised he was. He was the only one that knew about it, and after he told me, I was included into this little secret. So, do not say you don't have the capability to open a doorway to the Lake."

The magic-user lowered his head down in submission; Fabia knew she had won against his will. He wouldn't be able to act like he wasn't able to open the door now. He then looked up at her, but his hood still hid his face.

"Well, it looks like I have no choice but to take out your request, seeing as you know what I am capable of. Just tell me when you want this door opened." Fabia smiled devilishly at her victory and told him, "As soon as possible."

* * *

not much to say other than i am all depressed cause i have to go back to school tomorrow :'( sad face. no more early uploads. sorry, guys. but i will still try and upload everyday if time and schedule allow it. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	20. Old Ghosts

_~O~_

Alice finally woke from her slumber, and much to her surprise, she found that Shun was still sound asleep beside her; she figured he would have been awake before her. _Then again, it was rather a rough night on everyone, _she thought as she was reminded by all the secrets that had finally come into the light.

Alice stood up, brushing blades of grass off of herself as she did so. She then glanced at their pile of food; it was running a bit low. All that was left was a handful of berries and a couple of edible leaves. Alice decided that it wouldn't hurt to go and restock their supplies, especially when she knew several edible plants well enough to identify them out of the rest.

Before heading into the surrounding forest, Alice glanced down at Shun. He still appeared to be sound asleep, and she figured that he would be out for a little while longer. That way, she could go and get the food and return to the campsite before he even knew she was gone.

It wasn't like she was trying to sneak around him; Alice just didn't want him to wake up and worry when he saw that she was no longer by his side. It was quite obvious to her now that she was something for Shun to lean on, a person that offered him support when nobody else in the world would.

She meant something to him, but exactly what, she wasn't sure. Alice didn't even know what he was to her, and she really didn't think she had the mental stability to try and figure it out at the moment. It could wait till another time when her mind was ready.

She shook the thoughts away and hurried into the woods, knowing that if she continued to stand there and allow her mind to wander about, Shun would end up waking up sooner or later. Perhaps she could have waited for him to wake up.

That way, he would have been near her and maybe even helped her if she started to doubt herself. But Alice wanted a bit of time to herself to sort some things out, and this was probably the only way for her to get that alone time. Without realizing it, she was now in the depths of the forests.

All the trees looked alike here, and that had scared her at one point. But Shun had made sure to work out a route back to the campsite that would be easy to remember, so she had no fear of getting lost in the maze of trees and underbrush.

Alice proceeded to get her bearings straight as she veered off their beaten path to go in search for food. She then came to a spot that she and Shun and designated as one of the berry bushes they would use. She began to pick the tiny, round yellow orbs and placed them in the skirt of her dress, which she was using like a basket.

After a few minutes of foraging, the skirt of her dress was practically full of plants and berries, enough to last them a couple more days before they had to venture back into the forest. So, Alice walked back to the trail and was about to go back to the campsite, but something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye.

It was further into the woods, much further than she or Shun had traveled thus far. She wasn't exactly sure what she was seeing, for trees and shrubs obscured her vision. It appeared that there was some sort of florescent light coming from up ahead.

Maybe it was a trick that the sunlight was playing on the plants, making them glow brightly somehow. Curious, Alice stepped off the path and headed towards the strange light. She then was deposited in a clearing, and in the middle was a large boulder.

It was caked in moss that glowed florescent blue and green, and little orbs of light floated around the rock. Alice stepped closer, absolutely mesmerized by the site. She had never seen anything like it before, not even in Wonderland. The orbs of light suddenly began to shudder in the air, as if something had unnerved them.

They then floated around furiously, almost like they were angry or scared. "I didn't mean to scare you," Alice said gently, thinking that her presence had caused this to happen. The floating orbs drifted upwards and began to pool together at the top of the mossy boulder. Then, they took on the shape of something, or someone; a man.

He looked much older than Alice, with short blue hair and sharp, sea-foam green eyes. His skin was a sort of translucent, pale color that she couldn't really explain. The man was also adorned in regal-looking clothes and jewels, signaling a high status in the world.

Alice took a step forward, gazing up in awe at the person that had suddenly appeared before her. She asked him, "Who, or what are you?" He looked down and smiled warmly at her. "My name is Jin, dear Alice," he informed her kindly. Alice unknowingly took another step closer to him and asked, "How did you get here? Did you fall in as well?"

She was completely mesmerized by him for some reason that she couldn't explain. It wasn't because of his looks; he was attractive, but not in a way that Alice preferred. There was just some otherworldly pull that was drawing her in, beckoning for her to come closer to the apparition before her.

Jin chuckled, his voice warm and clear. "No, dear. I did not fall in. My soul was…Banished. Imprisoned, perhaps would be a better word," he said while gazing up at the light blue sky. Alice was now standing a few feet away from the base of the large boulder. "Who imprisoned you here, then?" she asked.

Jin leaned back on his hands, his fingers sinking into the shining moss, and smiled darkly. "My wife….The Red Queen." Alice felt herself tense up, and as she regained control over her mind, she took a step back. "The Red Queen is your wife? That would make you-"

Jin cut her off before she could finish putting the puzzle pieces together. "Yes, that would have made me the King of Wonderland….You're quite the observant one, dear Alice." He then laughed and told her, "Don't worry, I am nothing like my wife is."

Alice narrowed her eyes at the ghost King and said, "Nobody ever mentioned there being a King of Wonderland." Jin crossed his legs, knocking some of the glowing moss off the rock as he did so. "That's because saying my name, or evening mentioning me, was forbidden in Wonderland after my death," he said matter-of-factly.

Alice relaxed a bit now that she knew that Jin obviously was not favored much by the Queen, seeing that even his name could not be mentioned in Wonderland for whatever reason. "How did you die?" she asked. Jin tilted his head up to the sky, and when he did, Alice could see a rip in the fabric of his royal garbs, right where his heart would be.

"The Red Queen murdered me. Stuck a knife right in my chest." He was smiling as he spoke, but Alice caught a glimpse of a tear forming in his eye as the ghost King spoke of his death. "She killed her own husband?" Alice asked, completely in shock.

Was the Queen really that cold and vicious that she would even kill the person that she supposedly loved? Jin gave her one single nod and said, "Yup. She killed me because she wanted more power.

She said that I wasn't ruling well enough, that I was too soft and lenient on the people of Wonderland and letting them walk over our regime. I saw no point in trying to smother the people of Wonderland. Unlike her, I knew what consequences would arise from ruling too strictly. Shame she was so blind by her lust for power."

Alice shook her head, not believing what she was hearing. From what Jin was telling her, it looked like he was the only thing that had been shielding Wonderland from the Red Queen's evil touch. Suddenly, the dead King's demeanor turned from peaceful and relaxed, to serious.

He slid off the top of the mossy rock and stood right in front of Alice. Her instincts told her to step back, to put some distance between her and this specter, but that otherworldly pull was acting up again, and she just stood there. Jin placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her square in the eyes.

He told her in a serious tone, "Listen to me, dear Alice. The Queen will continue to do all these horrible things as long as she lives. Nowhere will be safe from her touch, despite what you may have been told or where you go. She will always find a way to get to what she wants. No matter the cost. Remember this, Alice."

Jin then began to dissipate into the thin air, returning into little orbs of light. The orbs floated up into the air and vanished from her sight. Suddenly, Alice felt lightheaded and fell back onto the ground with a thud. Her body felt like it weighed a ton, and that she was unable to get up to her feet.

Her mind then began to grow fuzzy. A moment later, the forest around her suddenly vanished. She laid there for an amount of time that she was unsure of, and really didn't care how long she was there; it just felt good to sink into the darkness every once in a while. But she was brought out of the darkness abruptly.

Alice forced her eyes open and found that Shun was kneeling beside her, a look of genuine worry and concern on his face. "Thank heavens you're awake. I was starting to worry that you wouldn't wake up," he told her, his words rushing a bit as he spoke. Alice tried to sit up, but found herself too weak to even do that mundane task.

With Shun's help, she was able to get into a sitting position. "What….What happened?" she asked. Shun motioned back in the direction of their campsite and told her, "I woke up and you weren't there. I hadn't even started to look around yet when I heard you scream. I hurried to find you after that."

_I screamed? _Alice thought to herself. She didn't remember screaming. What did she remember though? She recalled going towards a strange, florescent light and that she had been talking to somebody. But who had she spoken with? Whenever she tried to think about, her mind was nothing but a blank space right there.

Thinking her surroundings might help trigger her memory, Alice glanced around. She found herself sitting beside a large boulder, colored in dark green moss. Had this been the source of the light that she recalled walking towards her? She couldn't remember for the life of her.

Shun suddenly shook his head and told her, "Here, I'll help you back to the Lake. It's obvious you aren't well right now." She could hear the concern in his voice, and hated that she was causing him such grief. He slipped an arm behind her shoulders, and the other behind her knees, and picked her up off the ground.

As Shun carried her back to their campsite, Alice looked through the trees and up at the sky. It wasn't a blue color like it had been since they arrived in Wonderland; it was turning a dark gray, as if a storm was moving in. But Alice was sure that it was normal for weather to change in Looking Glass Lake.

It couldn't stay a paradise all the time, right? She felt her eyes and mind growing heavy again as darkness threatened to reclaim her again. Alice closed her eyes and leaned her head against Shun's shoulder, and as she started to drift off, she heard an all too familiar voice say, _"She will always find a way to get to what she wants. No matter the cost. Remember this, Alice."_

_~O~_

The March Hare paced back and forth, creating a rut in the ground. Off to the side, the Cheshire and Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum were sitting on a petrified log; beside them, Joe the Dormouse was sleeping soundly. Runo only wished she could sleep at the moment and be at peace, but even she knew that Joe was far from peaceful, even in his sleep.

He was worried and stressed like the rest of them. They had been on the run since the Knights of the Heart broke into the Hatter's old home and tried to apprehend them. The Mad group had fought their way out, but Runo had almost been caught by a Knight.

If not for the Hatter sacrificing himself for her, she would have been taken to the Queen and had God-knows what done to her. But the March Hare couldn't stand to think that the Hatter was probably dead because of her carelessness.

She should have gotten out of there when he told them to, and not a moment later. But it was too late to dwell on that now. The Hatter was gone, and they were hiding out on the outskirts of Wonderland, weak and practically defenseless.

Runo shook her head, causing her pig-tails to hit her cheeks. "We can't just give up," she said defiantly. The Cheshire, Julie, looked up at Runo and said, "What do you plan on us doing, Runo? We've lost Alice, and the Hatter has been captured. It was his plan we were following, and without Hatter and Alice as our main weapon, we have nothing. Admit it, Runo, we have no way of standing up to the Queen now….As if we even stood a chance before."

The March Hare jumped up to her feet and stomped one on the ground. "No! I refuse to let the Hatter's sacrifice be in vain! He put his neck on the chopping block so we could escape and carry on his plan to overthrow the Queen! What would he say to us if he found out we had given up so easily?"

Everyone exchanged a look at one another, even Joe, who had decided to surface from his slumber. Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum nodded together and said in unison, "March has gone a point. The Hatter would throw his best tea set at us if he found out we rolled over and quit."

Julie tore her gaze from the short, chubby duo and looked at Runo. "What do we do though? We can't exactly follow the Hatter's original plan," she stated. The March Hare continued to pace back and forth, then stopped abruptly. "You're right, Julie. We can't go through with the Hatter's plan, but we are more than capable at coming up with our own."

Runo could see a stir of hope circling about their broken group, and she knew that there was a chance for them after all. There was still a chance that they could salvage their rebellion and overthrow the Queen on their own.

Runo walked to the edge of their camp and looked out at the Queen's castle that protruded from the ground far, far away. The March Hare narrowed her eyes and tightened her hands into fists. She then said under her breath, "I will not let the Hatter down….I will not let his sacrifice go unnoticed…..I will not let his wishes of revenge die with him."

* * *

well, first day back at school after my spring break went pretty well. found out I did pretty well on my Algebra II test, which was a plus. anyway, read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	21. All Good Things Must Come To An End

_~O~_

The Red Queen stood out in a clearing of the forest not too far away from her castle. Accompanying her were several Knights, and standing in the middle of them, was the magic-user that would soon rip open a door to Looking Glass Lake. The wind had begun to pick up, blowing leaves around into the air and scattering them about.

The clouds were also turning darker than they had ever been, as if they knew what was about to happen and were trying to scream it to the world. But the Queen cared not for these signs of forewarning; to her, they were signs that she would soon get what she so desperately wanted.

She tilted her head back a bit in supremacy and said, "I am ready whenever you are, magician." The hooded figure nodded and cast out a circle, using salt as the outline. As he walked in his circle, he muttered the spell's incantation. Fabia stood by, smiling contently as the salt ring began to glow a faint white.

It wouldn't be much longer now. She would soon have her Champion back in her possession, and the human girl would also be her captive. With those two, Fabia could easily crush whatever rebellion may have still been in the works in Wonderland. She watched intently as the magician completely another revolution around the circle, his arms raised upwards as the power in his raspy voice increased.

Around him, the air began to tremble, and Fabia could feel the growing power made its presence known. This old man was her key to Looking Glass Lake. He was the only person that was capable of getting her Champion back from that accursed place. The salt-laden circle no longer glowed white, but a soft, gentle blue color as the spell continued to be cast.

The Knights of the Heart that had accompanied their Queen, took a step away from the magic-user, obviously fearful of his power. Fabia, though, stood firm near the circle. One of her Knights suggested that she step back, but she refused to budge.

They saw that there was no way that they would get the Queen to change her mind, so they let her be. The magic-user's voice began to speed up and grow louder; it seemed like the louder his voice was, the stronger the spell became. The wind picked up, sending the black storm-clouds tumbling in overhead.

Lightning flashed, cutting the sky in half with a powerful crack. This spell was against the nature of Wonderland, even the Queen knew that. It was disrupting the very fragile fabric that held the realm together, and the land was rebelling back and showing its displeasure of being violated.

_It will have to deal with it until I get what I want, _Fabia thought to herself. She wasn't going to let a little wind and thunder stop her when she was so close. Her Champion was needed to crush the inevitable rebellion that was brewing out of sight, and he was right within her grasp now.

So, no. Fabia was not going to turn back for anything. Suddenly, the magician stopped walking and now stood in the center of his circle. He raised his hands far above his head and said the last sentence of his incantation.

When he the did, the salt ring, which had been glowing light blue, blazed to life in a vibrant purple. The ground began to rumble and the magic-user quickly stepped out of the way as the ground was split open.

_~O~_

The Hatter laid in a crumbled heap in the corner of his dungeon cell. He was soaked through his clothes from the damp floor, chilled nearly all the way to his bones. The Queen and her Knights had continued to try and beat the answers out of him for some time after he made it clear that he wasn't going to tell them anything.

And the Hatter had stayed true to his statement. He hadn't told the Knights or the Queen a single piece of his valuable information. He cringed as a wave of pain coursed through his battered body.

Bruises, welts, and gashes littered his chest, arms, and legs from where the Queen's twisted interrogation techniques had tried to pry the answers from him. Dan laughed a bit under his breath, but he could not find any reason to laugh; there was nothing humorous about his situation.

Perhaps he found something amusing by how determined they had been to get the names of those that had helped try and make the Hatter's plan reality. Or maybe he was just a bit Madder since being locked away. Dan forced himself to his feet, the shackles clamped onto his hands and feet rattling as he did so.

They had taken him off the wall a couple days ago; most likely to try and convince him that they had the power over his life and what would happen to him. It didn't make a difference to the Hatter, though. He knew all too well that his head would end up on the chopping-block in the end.

The Hatter stepped onto the stone block that was supposed to be a place to sit and sleep, and stepped up onto the massive stone to look out of a small, barred window near the ceiling. The sound of the wailing wind had drawn his attention to the window, and when he looked through the iron bars, he saw a light blue light glowing down in the forest nearby.

Dan squinted his eyes to try and get a better look at what was going on down there, but he couldn't make anything out. He could hear the sound of somebody chanting over the screams of the wind, but that was about it. Dan continued to keep his gaze locked on the blue light when it suddenly blazed purple and the ground began to shake.

The Earth's tremor was enough to rattle the walls of his dungeon cell and knock some of the loose dirt in the stone walls free. He had to hold onto the bars of the window to keep himself from falling off the stone block. The Hatter, positive that he had his balance back, looked back out of the window and gasped at what he saw.

In the middle of the forest, was a large, gaping hole that led down into a seemingly endless abyss. Dan's eyes grew wide when he realized what the Queen had done; she had forced open a way into Looking Glass Lake. She was going to retrieve her Champion, and probably Alice as well.

_If that traitor hasn't killed her yet, _Dan thought bitterly. He didn't put it past the Champion to carry out orders while trapped in Looking Glass Lake. Up in the sky, the lightning became frantic and intense. The clouds flashed bright, blinding white with each strike.

Then, the clouds broke free, letting loose the tears of pain that they had been holding in since the Queen took over and began to ruin the land. This was Wonderland's breaking point.

_~O~_

Alice opened her eyes and found herself leaned against the trunk of a massive oak tree. She let out a yawn as the last bits of unconsciousness wore off from her mind. Slowly, her eyes came back into focus and she saw that it was raining heavily, and that if it hadn't been for the large branches of the oak tree, she would have been soaked to the bone, rather than a bit damp.

She looked down and saw the Champion's white and red jacket; he had placed it on her sometime while she was out in order to keep her warm and protected from the rain. Alice then began to search for Shun. He was sitting on the other side of the oak's trunk, arms wrapped around himself to try and retain some of his body's warmth.

It looked like he was asleep, or at least trying to sleep. Alice stood up and draped the jacket over her shoulders, then walked around the trunk and sat down beside the Champion. He must have sense her presence, for he opened his eyes and looked at her. Worry and concern were embedded deep in his amber orbs; if they had ever left in the first place.

"You're awake," he said with surprise. Alice smiled and gave him a single nod. She still didn't like that she had caused him worry, even though should couldn't help what had happened to her. What _had _happened to her? She wasn't entirely sure yet. All she could remember were the basics; she followed a light and spoke to somebody who warned her further about the Red Queen.

"Are you feeling alright?" Shun asked her and placed the back of his hand on her forehead to check her for fever. Alice stared in surprise and felt her face heat up a bit at the sudden contact. "Uh, yeah. I'm feeling fine," she said quickly. Shun removed his hand from her forehead and raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you sure? You look a little flushed still."

Feeling her face heat up further, Alice rubbed her cheeks frantically with her hands to try and rid herself of the blush. She quickly told him, "I must be a bit sunburned or something. It's nothing. Don't worry about me." Shun furrowed his brows together, obviously skeptical about her lie.

But he eventually sighed and gave in. "Alright, then," he said, "as long as you're feeling better. I was worried, you know?" Alice felt the heat trying to rush back into her face, and she quickly searched for something, anything, that she could use to change to subject and get him to talk about something else.

Her mind instantly went to the power rain. "When did it start raining?" she asked and pointed out to the raging storm. Shun looked out at the storm and told her, "Shortly after you passed out and I brought you back to the Lake."

Alice remembered seeing that the sky had been darkening before she passed out for a second time, but she didn't think that those graying clouds would turn into a full-out deluge. "I see," she said. Shun pressed his back further into the trunk of the tree, and Alice saw that he was still shivering and fighting the cold, damp air, while she stayed warm in the confines of his jacket.

She didn't want him to suffer, so she set closer to him and draped the jacket over both of them. Instantly, Shun's excessive trembling ceased, and he sighed contently. "Thanks," he told her and shot her a warm smile. Alice found herself smiling back and turned her attention back to the rain.

The sound of rain had always been relaxing to her, and she wanted nothing more than to curl up in her own bed back at home and sleep the day away. But she would have to settle for this. Although, when she thought about it, staying close to Shun wasn't that bad of a situation, and he didn't seem to mind it either.

He suddenly asked her, "So, what were you doing so far away from the trail we marked out?…What happened to you?" He deserved answers, and Alice wished she could give him some. But she hardly knew what happened herself. "I….I don't remember exactly why I went off the path. I just recall this strange light and going towards it. The rest is kind of a blur," she said honestly.

Shun nodded and said, "Maybe you bumped your head or something." That was as good a theory as anything Alice had, and it was possible. Maybe she slipped and hit her head, but that didn't explain the warning about the Queen that she remembered hearing.

She felt Shun shrug his shoulders beside her. He said, "Well, whatever happened, you might want to be more careful….You really did have me worried." Shun focused his eyes on the ground in front of his feet, and Alice could see the distress in his two amber orbs.

Alice looked away and said, "I'm sorry." She didn't like knowing that she caused him worry, and she certainly didn't like seeing the worry on his face. He turned around and faced her. "I'm not blaming you, if that's what you think. It's just…I guess I've grown rather fond of you while being stuck here. I'm not sure what I'd do if something happened to you and caused this to change."

Alice could see his face was pink with blush, and this caused her own cheeks to warm up as well. She fought through the awkwardness she was feeling and reached for his hand, sliding hers over his. Shun looked at her with surprise in his eyes, and she was caught off guard by her own actions. She couldn't really explain what she was trying to do; it just felt like the right thing to do at the moment.

Alice bit down on her lower lip and said, "Thank you….For looking out for me while we've been here. I know you didn't have to do any of the things you did, but you did them anyway, and for that, I am grateful."

She looked up at him and found herself looking right into his bright, amber eyes that had become soft and gentle; no longer were they cold and unforgiving.

The two sat there for a moment, looking at each other like that. Alice felt like it was a moment taken straight out of time, frozen and preserved. Without thinking, the two of them found themselves leaning in closer to one another. Their lips just barely brushed when there was loud crash, and the sky came falling down.

* * *

i decided to tease you guys a bit with that ending, cause, well, i'm an evil ginger like that :p read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	22. Paradise Lost

_~O~_

The sky literally shattered, as if it had been made of glass the entire time they were there. Shun ran out from under the large oak tree and into the pouring rain, leaving Alice behind. She eventually joined him at his side as her curiosity got the better of her as well.

The two of there stared up at the crumbling atmosphere. The site had them both caught off guard. "What's going on?" Alice asked while she looked up at the disintegrating sky. Shun wished she could tell her what was happening, but even he didn't know; this obviously wasn't a natural occurrence, even in Looking Glass Lake. As the sky fell apart, shards began to fall on them like falling glass.

Shun and Alice lifted their arms up and shielded themselves from the debris, but several of the pieces of sky ended up leaving small cuts on their arms. As quickly as it began, it all ended. No longer did shards of the sky fall down. Instead, a large, gaping hole rested above them.

It was pitch black, and oddly enough reminded Shun of the hole that opened in the ground and deposited him and Alice at the Lake. Sensing that there was something going horribly wrong here, Shun took a step closer to Alice to keep her safe from whatever was happening. She didn't push him away.

Instead, she leaned into him, obviously feeling that near him was as safe as she was going to get. From the giant hole in the sky, a translucent purple column slowly descended down and touched the ground. It remained there for a moment, and inside the column of light, shapes began to form.

At first, they were nothing more than blobs of light that were a bit darker than the column itself. But they began to form into something more. It took Shun a moment to realize what was materializing right before his very eyes; the Knights of the Heart. Panic set in, and he quickly stood between the Knights and Alice, using his own body as a shield to prevent the Queen's dogs from getting their hands on her.

Alice asked him, "What's going on?" Shun shook his head, not believing what was in front of him. Looking Glass Lake was supposed to be impossible to enter to on purpose; it was a stroke of dumb luck if somebody fell in. But if that was the case, then how in the world did the Knights of the Heart get in?

Shun tensed when he realized that this obviously had the Red Queen's grimy hands all over it. She must have found some way to get into Looking Glass Lake by force. The purple column of light slowly dissipated away, and now, about twelve of the highest ranking Knights of the Heart stood before them.

One of them stepped forward; the Captain. He was the strongest of all of the Knights, but he was still far inferior to Shun. The Captain crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Ah, I see you've kept that little human brat in one place. The Queen will be very pleased with you."

Shun tensed up as the Captain made it sound like this had been part of a plan all along. Behind him, Alice asked, "What's he talking about, Shun? I thought you said nobody could break their way in here." He could hear the growing suspicion in her voice; she was starting to think that he had deceived her all this time.

Shun wasn't about to have false blame placed upon him. "Don't a single one of you dare try and lay a hand on her!" he snapped at them. The Knights shared glances at one another, then the Captain chuckled. "I see, you want to deliver the girl to the Queen personally. How chivalrous. Too bad, though, for the Queen ordered us to retrieve the two of you. But don't worry, you'll get all the credit for keeping an eye on her."

Shun felt his eyes widen. Surely Alice wasn't believing this. The Captain had it all wrong; he still thought that Shun was a loyal servant of the Queen's. He had no way of knowing all the things that had transpired between the girl and Champion, especially not what was about to happen either.

The Captain pointed at Alice and told one of the Knights, "Go and retrieve the girl from the behind the Queen's glory hound." The Knight nodded and began to walk towards Shun. He wasn't going to allow them to take Alice away, to take his freedom away.

As the Knight got closer, Shun felt Alice press herself against his back. She said under her breath, "Shun…..What's going on? You're not going to let them take me away, right? You wouldn't allow that to happen, right?" There was desperation in her words.

She was scared. Hell, he was scared too. He was scared of losing her, of losing all that he had gained while trapped in the Lake. Alice buried her face into the back of his shoulder blades as the Knight began to reach for her. Why Shun was just standing there, frozen like a statue, he didn't know.

Maybe it was shock from realizing that all he had begun to hold dear to him, was being ripped away once more. It was like time started slowing down, and Shun watched as the Knight's armor-adorned hand latched onto Alice's arm. That was it. Without even realizing what he was doing, Shun unsheathed the sword on his hip and rammed the blade in between the armor of the Knight, piercing the flesh beneath.

The Knight screamed out in pain and dropped onto the ground like a bag of sand, dead. Shun took a step back and stared at what he had done; he just killed one of the people that he had once called his comrades. He heard Alice gasp, but it sounded muffled along with everything else around him.

Things started to return back to a normal pace, and when they did, he heard the Captain shout, "What do you think you're doing, Champion!? Have you gone Mad!? And you all! What are you doing just standing there!? Apprehend them!" The Knights swarmed in on the two.

Shun, somewhat back in focus now, made sure he stood between the oncoming Knights and Alice, keeping her safe from their reach. He blocked the arcs of swords and attacks from the Knights of the Heart, and slowly felt himself slipping into the state of mind he had when taking out a request from the Queen, a state of mind where nothing else fazed him, and all he could focus on was the task at hand.

And his task at the moment, was keeping Alice safe. As far as he was concerned, he was no longer the Queen's Champion; he was Alice's Champion. Shun continued to block attacks, occasionally slicing into the armored leg of a Knight. But it was that high-pitched, shrill scream that made him lose his focus.

Shun turned and glanced over to his shoulder, and felt the shock paralyze him. Several Knights had grabbed a hold of Alice, holding her firmly in place so she couldn't run. The Knights' numbers had been too many for Shun to keep up with, which allowed them to overrun him and use the fighting as a distraction.

Alice fought against them, but their hold on her was too strong. She looked up and met his gaze head-on, her brown eyes filled with fear and overflowing with tears. "Alice!" Shun shouted and tried to run to her aid. But the Knights encircled her, forming a wall of armor and swords that now stood between him and her.

The Captain stood in the middle of the circle and said harshly, "Stand down, Champion, while you still have a chance to repent for your betrayal!" Shun tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword in his hand, and growled. He had never felt such rage, even when the Queen had forced him to kill the Hatter's family.

This was something dear to him, something that he had been so desperately seeking for years, and they were just going to take it away from him. No. He wasn't going to allow it. Shun felt himself snap and he charged at the Knights that stood between him and Alice.

They broke formation and began to surround him, but he didn't care. Shun lashed out blindly at them, hardly even striking their armor. He let out a cry of anger as he continued to fight the Knights savagely. This was a perfect example why he had never let his emotions get in his way while taking care of the Queen's requests; he sometimes had no control over them.

If he was just a bit calmer, a bit more rational, he would have had no problem in taking out this Knights one at a time. But he was not calm, and he was not rational. He was seething with anger, with rage, and that was crippling him drastically in this fight. Shun's eyes fell on the Captain, who was standing off to the side and observing the fight with a look of disappointment on his face.

He shouted to his Knights, "I grow tired of this game! Take care of him and bring them both back to the Queen!" Shun growled and charged at the Captain, knowing that if he could just take him down, then the rest of the Knights would fall as well.

He was about to reach the Captain, about to sever his from his shoulders, when a blinding pain shot through Shun's head. He gasped out and dropped on the ground, only a few feet short of the Captain. Fighting through his pain, Shun rolled over on his back and saw that a Knight had made it just in time and had struck him in the back of the head with a mace.

He could feel the blood starting to pool and mat up in his hair, and he knew that it wouldn't be much longer before he blacked out. Shun turned his gaze back up to the Captain, who had this look of superiority on his face.

"You know, you should have just kept up that cold façade of yours. Maybe then you wouldn't be in this predicament right now, would you?" Shun growled and tried to get up on his feet, but fell right back down onto the ground.

The damage from the mace's strike finally became too much for him to handle it, and Shun began to slip into darkness. All while he drifted away, Shun couldn't help but think to himself, _I'm sorry, Alice…_

_~O~_

Alice couldn't keep up with what all was happening; it was just too much at once. Somehow, the Queen's Knights had broken into Looking Glass Lake, when nobody was supposed to be able to do such a thing. And by the way the head Knight was talking, it sounded like this had all been a part of some kind of elaborate plan, like Shun had meant to earn her trust and keep her in one place while the Knights worked their way into the Lake.

But her doubts were put to an end when Shun killed one of them to keep her safe. That was when all hell broke loose. The Knights swarmed on Shun, fighting him from all sides. Yet, he appeared to be calm through it all. Alice continued to put distance between herself and all the madness.

But as she got away, she felt herself bump into somebody. Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder and saw that a Knight was standing behind her, a smug smile on his face. He wrapped his hands around her shoulders, and as she screamed, several more Knights held her in place.

She caught a glimpse of Shun looking at her through her teary eyes. He was caught off guard, shocked. That was when she saw him snap. He no longer carried a grace in his step and attacks. He lashed out blindly and violently at the Knights, hardly ever even landing a hit on them.

Alice watched in horror as he tried to reach the Captain, but was struck down a Knight with a mace in his hands. Shun dropped to the ground and wasn't able to get back up. Alice felt her legs give way beneath her, and if it hadn't been for the Knights holding her, she would have collapsed right there.

The Knights clustered around Shun, and one of them hoisted him over their shoulder, carrying him off to where the purple column remained. She was lifted up as well, but no longer offered any resistance against them. She let them lead her over to the column.

The purple light grew bright, and soon became too bright for her to see anything. Then, no longer wanting to remain conscious and awake in this world, she allowed herself to pass out and drift into oblivion.

* * *

there will be no upload tomorrow, just a heads up. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	23. Freedom Will Never Ring

_~O~_

When the gate to Looking Glass had been opened, the Queen knew that what she sought would soon be brought to her, and that there was no need for her to hang around and wait. So, she told a Knight that had stayed behind to make sure the magic-user didn't turn on them and close to gate that she was returning to the castle.

He only bowed and gave the Red Queen a slight nod to signal that he had heard her statement. She turned and walked back to the palace, a smile on her face and she stepped through the large double-doors of her throne room. "Won't be long now," she mused aloud and took her seat on her throne.

As she sat there, she pondered how long it would take to get her Champion and that human out of Looking Glass Lake. _Probably not very long. Maybe five minutes at the most, _she thought to herself with a malicious smile. But five minutes came and went, and after that, so did ten and fifteen minutes.

The Queen was growing impatient. It was ridiculous that it was taking her Knights that long to retrieve her Champion and that human. Even if they did have to search all of Looking Glass Lake for them, she knew her Champion well enough that when he saw the door open to the Lake, that he would have gone right towards it out of curiosity.

All Fabia could figure was that something had to have gone wrong there. Maybe the human had somehow gotten the upper hand on the Champion, as impossible as it sounded, and killed him. Now, she was probably giving the Knights of the Heart a run for their money, if that was the case.

Fabia began to impatiently tap her fingers on the armrest of her throne. Her manicured nails clicked and echoed in the throne room against the marble throne, almost like the ticking of a clock. "That's it!" she shouted to herself, "I have grown tired of waiting! Where are-"

She cut her rant short when she saw her Knights walk through the double-doors of the throne room. One had the Champion draped over his shoulder, while another held an unconscious girl with orange hair. Fabia felt her eyes widen at the site. At long last, she had gotten what she had asked for.

She stood up from her throne and clapped her hands together. "Bravo! Well done, my Knights! You have pleased me!" she said brightly and smiled down at them. She then noticed that some of the Knights' armor was scratch up, while others were dripping small amounts of blood onto the marble floor.

Fabia narrowed her green eyes at them and asked, "What happened? Did the girl somehow attack you all? Is that why my Champion is unconscious?" The Queen had a hard time believing that this small girl was capable of injuring her Knights, along with her Champion, but that was how it was starting to look.

The Captain stepped forward and shook his head. "No, your Majesty. She was not the one who attacked us. It was you Champion. We tried to take the girl into our custody as you had asked, and he turned against us, even killed one of our own men," he informed her.

Fabia felt her eyes grow wide with surprise, and she took a step back, nearly stumbling into her throne. "My Champion….Attacked you?" she asked, utterly dumbfounded. How could he, the most loyal of all her subjects, do this to her?

The Captain nodded and said, "He did, your Majesty. I will have to inform you of everything that happened." Fabia nodded, but her focus wasn't fixed on the Captain; it was fixed on the girl. It occurred to Fabia that this girl more than likely had something to do with her Champion's betrayal.

_This is why I put an end to all of those little vermin that sneak in here. They cause me nothing but trouble, _she thought to herself. Humans, for whatever reason, had the ability to sway people's opinions, as Fabia had discovered shortly after making Shun her Champion.

His presence and intimidation had been enough to strike fear into Wonderland to the point that even the thought of rebellion didn't even exist. That was just proof of the swaying personalities of a human and what all they were capable of.

The Queen waved her hand nonchalantly at her Knights and said, "You all, leave me and the Captain alone to speak. Take my Champion down to the dungeons. I will deal with him later. As for the girl, lock her up in one of the guest rooms. Give her a change of clothes as well. I want her to feel at home for the time being."

The Knights of the Heart bowed before their Queen and went off to take out her request. Now, it was just Fabia and her Captain. She sat back down in her throne and said, "Now, Captain, tell me what went on in the Lake." He nodded and stood from the kneeling position he had taken upon his arrival.

"We arrived there and found them shortly after. I had assumed that you Champion had fooled the girl into staying in one place with him and hoped that we somehow got them out, but it would appear that I was very, very wrong about that. The moment we made a move for the girl, he turned on us and began to defend her!"

The Captain threw his hands up into the air for emphasis of his astonishment. Fabia only nodded and ordered him to carry on with his story. He nodded and cleared his throat as he began again, "Of course, your Majesty. After that, a fight broke out between him and my Knights. While some of my men kept him distracted, others went for the girl. He caught a glimpse of us grab hold of her, and I swear to you, my Queen, he went Mad. I had never seen him strike out so blindly and savagely in all of my years around him. It was like he was a completely different person."

Fabia narrowed her eyes down at the Captain; she had a pretty good idea as to why this had happened. Her Champion had been beyond her reach, and beyond the reach of their Oath. She had no way of reaching him, of keeping an eye on him, and it was obvious that he must have begun to think himself free of her service.

_He has never been more wrong, _Fabia thought bitterly to herself. It was foolish of him to think that even while in Looking Glass Lake that he still wasn't under terms of their Oath. The Queen stood up and straightened the skirt of her crimson dress. "Thank you, Captain, for telling me this. I assure you, my Champion will be back to his old self in no time," she told him and began to head for the door that led down to the dungeons.

Behind her, she heard the Captain ask her, "Where are you headed, your Majesty?" Without turning around, the Queen replied with, "The dungeons. I need to have a bit of a discussion with my Champion." As she reached out for the massive, gold handle, Fabia felt the Captain latch onto her wrist.

She turned around, anger blazing in her eyes. How dare somebody as lowly as he touch her? The Captain realized what he had done, and quickly took a step back. "I-I'm sorry, your Majesty. I-It's just that I don't think you should go down there and speak with him. He's unstable and dangerous. He could try and harm you," he stammered.

Fabia felt her lips curve into a devilish smile. "Oh, don't worry about me, Captain. My Champion will not strike at me. Not as long as I have a say in it," she said smoothly, opened the doors, and made her way down to the dungeon.

_~O~_

Shun finally came out of his state of unconsciousness, but he wished that he hadn't. His head pounded from where he had been struck with the mace, and the rest of his body also ached as the effects of the fight took their toll on him. But the cold, stone floor he was laying on provided some relief from his pains.

His body refused to move as he tried to sit up, but he fought his way through its protests and leaned his back against the wall. Shun didn't have to look around to know where he was at; he already knew by the smell and darkness alone. He was in one of the many dungeons beneath the Queen's palace.

This wasn't the first time he had been there. The last time he was in the dungeon was when he was captured, long before he became the Queen's Champion. He remembered how her stilettos had clicked and echoed against the stone floors as she approached his cell, and how terrified he had been at just the sound of the shoes.

There were bad, horrible memories in this place, and Shun could feel them swarming in the air around him. But none of those memories bothered him. What did, was the fact that he had let Alice down. He had been unable to protect her and keep her safe from the Queen's Knights.

Shun just knew she would blame him for whatever the Red Queen did to her. Shun felt tears threatening to form in his eyes as he remembered the sad, terrified expression that had been on Alice's face as he failed. She knew what would be awaiting her back at the palace, and it showed in her eyes.

Shun shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of those thoughts. But a certain sound caused him to freeze and tense up as an inhuman chill went down his spine; it was the clicking of the Queen's stilettos. Shun's eyes grew wide, and he tried to press himself as far as he could into the stone wall, as if doing that would somehow hide him from the upcoming wrath he was sure to face.

The clicking of the shoes stopped right in front of the massive wooden door that locked him inside of his dungeon cell; the Queen was right on the other side. Shun felt his heart racing as fear and adrenaline took over. What would she do to him? Wasn't it enough that she had taken his sanctuary away from him again?

That she had caused him grief? Now she wanted to cause him more pain? He heard the sound of key turning the locking mechanisms of the door, and a second later, it slowly creaked open. And there she stood, in all her crimson glory; the Queen.

Her green eyes were stark against the darkness of the dungeon, and they almost made her look cat-like. Fabia closed her eyes and shook her head sadly. "I am disappointed in you, Shun. How could betray me like that?" she asked, her voice soft and almost understanding. Almost.

Shun knew better. This was just an act she was putting on, as if it were all a game or a play. He adverted his eyes away from the Queen, wishing that it would make him invisible to her cold eyes. Shun could feel something shift in the air, and when he chanced a glance back up at the Queen, he saw her eyes were ablaze with fury.

"How dare you betray me!" she shouted and back-handed him in the face. Shun flinched and tensed further. "You and I are under an Oath that can only be broken by death! Do you not remember that!" she bellowed. Her voice sounded ten times louder than it was, thanks to the stone walls of his cell.

Fabia began to pace back and forth angrily in front of him, and never once tore her stark, green eyes away from him. "Or did you decide that our Oath was null and void while you were stuck in Looking Glass Lake?! What were you thinking while you were there?! Huh? Tell me!"

Shun mumbled his answer under his breath, but it was not loud enough for the Queen to hear. She yelled at him, "What did you say?!" He blinked the tears away that had formed in his eyes and shouted back, "I thought I was free! That's what I was thinking while I was there!"

Shun quickly prepped himself to feel the sting of another slap, but it never came. Instead, a morbid, twist laugh erupted from the Queen. "Free? What I have allowed you to have is enough freedom for you, especially when you know what all I can take from you," she practically hissed.

Her right hand, which hung loosely by her side, slowly tightened up into a fist. As it did, Shun could feel the deep, inner workings of their Blood Oath kicking in. He could feel the chains that tied him to her tightening around his heart, trying their best to rip away the free-will that he had been able to keep.

Shun let out a sob and said, "No….Please, stop…." He didn't like knowing that she was playing with his free-will. He didn't like knowing that the Queen could turn him into some puppet with no mind of its own. Fabia continued to pull at the strings of their Oath, tightening her control over him evermore.

Shun couldn't stand it any longer and shouted at her, "I said stop!" Fabia's hand return to its place by her side, no longer ruling over his willpower. Shun instantly felt the tightness in his chest go away, and he fell in on himself, trembling and tears flowing freely now.

The Queen knelt down beside him and took his face into her hands, bringing his tear-stained gaze up to meet hers. There wasn't an ounce of mercy in those green eyes of hers; only the hollow shell that was left of it.

She leaned in close to him and hissed, "Now, you see I am not playing simple games here. I could take away every ounce of will you hold dear to you as punishment for your actions, but I am being kind this time. I am allowing you to keep this, but if you cross me or try to disobey me again, I will not hesitate to take your soul away. Whatever happened at that Lake, get it out of your mind. None of it happened. It was all just a dream, nothing more. As far as you're concerned, you were just on a short break from your duties as my Champion. Am I making myself clear?"

Shun struggled to nod while the Queen still had his face cupped in her hands, but he managed. "Y-yes, your Majesty….I-I understand," he said in a trembling voice. Fabia smiled deviously and said, "Good. You will stay here for the rest of the night and resume your normal routine in the morning."

She stood up and strode over to the door of the cell, but stopped right at the threshold. She turned around and added, "Don't think I am done with you though. I am going to be testing how strong your loyalty is to me, while also trying to find a fitting punishment for your betrayal to make sure that you will never cross me again."

Fabia narrowed her eyes at him one last time, then left out of his cell, slamming the door shut behind her. The moment that Shun heard the door lock back into place, he let the jumble of emotions he had been holding back, flow freely through his tears. He now knew, no matter how he looked at it, he was no longer free, nor would he ever be.

* * *

it is Friday! -dances happily- the weekend is upon us! woo! read and leave a review on the way out! ~Copperpelt~


	24. Caged

_~O~_

Alice groaned as she woke. She sat up, running a hand through her disheveled hair and began to look around at where she was at. She was in an extravagant room, lined with crimson red drapes and marble columns. It would have been breathtaking, if it weren't for the fact that Alice knew where she was at; she was in the Queen's palace.

She looked down at the lush bed that she was laying in, and confusion began to mount. Why was she in a room like this, rather than locked away in some dungeon? She knew better than to think that the Queen was showing her mercy; from what Shun told her, the Queen wasn't merciful.

A hollow feeling then formed in Alice's chest. "Shun…," she said his name under her breath. He had tried to save her, tried to protect her from those Knights. But they had gotten the upper hand and Shun was no match for their numbers, no matter how good of a fighter he was.

Alice brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. She wondered where he was at now. Had the Queen punished him for betraying her? Had she ended his life? Alice cringed at the thought. She then pushed the negative thoughts out of her mind and swung her legs to the side of her bed, and slowly lowered her feet down onto the cold, marble floor.

A chill went through her feet and up to the rest of her body from the cold contact, and Alice thought that the Queen's heart must have been as cold as this floor, if not worse. Alice walked over to where a glass door resided. There were white, sheer drapes that hung in front of the door, letting in a little bit of light from outside.

She pushed the curtains to the side and looked out through the glass doors. She was overlooking Wonderland and saw that it looked much worse, much more pained than it did before she and Shun fell down into Looking Glass Lake. The sky was darker, pouring rain and splitting the clouds in half with lightning.

It was like the world was crying, grieving for a great loss. Alice reached for the golden doorknob and tried to turn it, but found that the door was locked, keeping her from going outside onto the balcony of her room. It didn't surprise her that the door to outside was locked; the Queen wouldn't be so naïve as to allow Alice a way of escape.

Alice sighed and walked over to the large wooden door that was on the other side of the room. The door had a reddish tint to it, making Alice believe that it was some kind of cherry or mahogany. She reached out and tried to turn the knob on that door; it was locked as well.

It was now clear that Alice was in nothing more than a very ornate prison. Again, this didn't surprise her. The Queen had spent quite some time searching for Alice. It would be idiotic to spend all that time, only to leave the doors unlocked and willing for her to escape. Alice sighed, accepting that she was going to be stuck in this room for a while.

She turned around and finally noticed a change of clothes sitting on a swing-back chair. It was a white dress with little patterns of purple swirls running up it, which reminded Alice somewhat of the intricate patterns on wedding cakes. She ran her hands along the fabric, surprised by the smoothness of the material.

There was a note attached to the dress that read, _A change of clothes, for our dear guest. _Alice took a step away from the dress. Dear guest? Was this one of the Queen's mind games that Shun had told her about? She then looked down at the torn, filthy dress that she had on.

It felt disgusting to be in the dirty dress, almost like a layer of grime was stuck on her. That clean, pristine dress laying before her was very tempting. When Alice thought about it, it wouldn't matter very much if she stayed in her current dress or changed; she was as good as dead either way.

She gave in and slipped out of her ruined attire and casually slipped into the new clothes that had been given to her. They fit her perfectly, and Alice wondered if they had fitted her for it while she had been unconscious.

The waist of the dress fit snugly around her, almost like a second skin, and the skirt of the dress stopped right at her knees, revealing her rather pale legs. If she were under different circumstances, she would have thought that the dress looked good on her.

But these were not different circumstances, and she couldn't help but have a feeling of forewarn wash over her. This wasn't just some dress; this was her funeral dress.

_~O~_

The Hatter heard the commotion going on in the cell beside his. He heard the Queen's shrill voice as she yelled. As the argument went on next door, the Hatter caught the word "Champion" thrown in there, and eventually heard the desperate pleas of the very person that had pushed him over the edge; Shun.

When he heard the door to the cell slam close, Dan walked over to the wall and looked up. Right at the top of the ceiling, where it and wall connected, there was a perfectly square hole cut into the stone walls with bars to help keep airflow going through the cells. Dan found holes that he could use to climb up until he reached the manmade window.

He looked through the bars, and sure enough, there was the Queen's Champion. The Hatter felt his anger boil up inside of him, and he couldn't help but lash out without thinking. "How'd the Queen's precious dog end up in the dungeon?" Dan saw Shun tense up, and the Champion looked up to find the Hatter looking through the bars near the top of the stone wall, his eyes bewildered and surprised.

"Hatter?" Shun asked to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. Dan narrowed his eyes and said, "Who else would it be?" The Champion blinked a couple of times, still not sure if he was really seeing the Hatter up there. But he quickly realized that it was not an illusion.

"How'd did you get here?" Shun asked. Dan scowled and said, "The Queen sent the Knights in to capture me and my comrades. They only got me though. Ironically enough, it was right in front of my old home. Ain't that something?" The Champion adverted his gaze from the Hatter, unable to look at him. Dan scoffed and repeated his previous question.

"You still didn't tell me what you did to piss off the Queen. What did you do? Finally betray her? That's always seemed to be your forte." Shun narrowed his eyes up at the Hatter, his amber eyes standing out brightly in the dark of the dungeon cell.

Dan knew he had struck a nerve, and he was going to keep striking those nerves; it was the closest thing he had to getting revenge on the Champion. Shun sighed and finally said, "I turned against the Knights of the Heart….." Dan smiled smugly and said, "So, I was right about you betraying them. I shouldn't be surprised though. Once a traitor, always a traitor, right?"

Shun adverted his gaze again, which only gaze Dan a bit of satisfaction. He was going to cut the Champion down as much as he possibly could. But much to Dan's surprise, Shun retorted at his snide comment of betrayal. Without looking up at the Hatter, Shun said, "I only turned against them to save Alice."

Dan felt his eyes widen. "For…Alice?" he asked, unsure if he was hearing the Champion correctly. Shun gave a single nod and said, "Yes, for Alice. The Knights came to take her and I fought to keep her safe, but they had the advantage with numbers and overpowered me."

Dan still couldn't believe that the Champion, the person that he considered the lowest being in all of Wonderland, had actually tried to save Alice, the person that had been ordered to hunt down. The Champion sighed and then said, "It doesn't matter now though. The Queen got a hold of her anyway, and things are only going to go back to how they were, if not worse." Dan could see the outline of tears running down the Champion's face.

"You don't half of what all happened that day, do you, Hatter?" Shun suddenly asked him. Dan felt his anger return and he snapped back, "Yes, I do know what happened. You turned against me and my family and allied yourself with the Queen. Simple as that." Shun shook his head and said flatly, "No, it's not as simple as that. She captured me and forced me into her service through a Blood Oath. I had no choice in any of it."

Dan scowled, not wanting to believe what the Champion was telling him. If he believed it, then that would mean that his whole reason for fighting to overthrow the Queen would be altered, seeing as the Champion was what really had set off the time-bomb inside of him.

Dan was about to say something back to Shun when the door to the Champion's cell opened up, and two Knights of the Heart stepped inside. One of them said, "It is now time for you to resume your duties as the Queen's Champion. Come with us, now."

Shun gave them one solemn nod, and stood up, glancing up at the Hatter through the barred window before leaving out. That one glance told Dan so many things. It told him that Shun had been telling him the truth just then.

That he didn't want to do any of the things that he had done since allying himself with the Queen. That he had never really betrayed the Hatter on his own will. Dan climbed down from his spot and went to go sit on the massive stone in his cell. He ran his hands through his hair, wondering what he would do now.

_~O~_

Shun was escorted back to his living quarters. On the way there, the Knights had been sneaking foul glares at him over their shoulders, but Shun paid them no mind. His thoughts went back to the conversation he had had with the Hatter. Did Dan believe a word that he had said?

Or was the hatred that his old friend held still stronger than any amount of truth. It didn't matter though. Dan was probably going to be killed by the Queen soon; what difference did it make it the Hatter still hated Shun while on his deathbed? Once back in his room, Shun found a fresh, clean uniform laying on his old bed.

He changed out of the one he was wearing that was tattered at covered with dirt and blood, and slipped into the new one. It was exactly the same; white with red accents. He stood in front of a mirror, adjusting the collar of the uniform to make sure he was presentable for the Queen, like he always used to do.

He stood there and looked at himself, surprised to find that his eyes were still tinted red from tears. As he looked at his reflection, he couldn't help but think that all he had done, all that he had gained, had been for nothing. But as the Queen had told him, he was to push all the events of Looking Glass Lake out of his mind.

He was to forget them all and think of them as a dream, nothing more, nothing less. But Shun couldn't bring himself to forget that time. Those days there had been some of the best days of his life since he arrived in Wonderland, and maybe even before then.

And he would need those memories now to get him through the upcoming days with the Queen. He needed to hold onto them to remind himself that he was still capable of feeling happiness, of knowing what it was, even though he could never have it again. A knock came at his door, and a Knight stepped in.

"The Queen awaits your presence," he said to Shun. Shun only nodded and watched in the mirror as the Knight left out. He looked back at himself in the mirror and straightened his hair to where it looked somewhat decent. Now, the person he saw was just the mask he wore.

He knew what was underneath, he knew that the person he really was, was still in there. The only thing was that he would more than likely never have a chance to let that person come up to the surface again. Shun took in a shaky breath, straightened his posture, and left out of his room to take up audience with the Queen.

* * *

happy saturday! nothing much new to report, so red and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	25. Different Intentions

_~O~_

Shun was escorted to the Queen's throne room, as he had expected. She was sitting on her throne, but Shun thought she looked anything but regal; she looked more like a bird of prey, waiting to swoop down and end the life of some poor, unaware animal. In this case, he felt like the poor animal.

He still wasn't sure if the Queen had really let him off easy on his punishment, so Shun refused to let his guard faltered. He wanted to make sure that whatever Fabia might throw out at him, he was ready to catch it and take it in full-stride.

That was the only way he would prove to her that he was loyal to her once more, seeing as he was now back in her service. And proving his loyalty was going to be the only thing that made the remainder of his pathetic life tolerable, for he knew that the Queen was going to be watching him around every corner now, making sure that he stayed in line and didn't cross her again.

When Fabia caught a glimpse of him entering the throne room, she smiled deviously and beckoned for him to come towards her. Shun sighed and walked up to the marble steps that led up to her throne. He knelt down there on the floor and placed his fisted hand over his heart, the standard sign of respect to the Queen.

Fabia rested her chin on the back of her hand and said with a smile, "Ah, it's good to have you back to your senses, my faithful Champion." Shun felt himself cringe at her words, and he hoped that the Queen didn't take noticed. She mustn't have seen him, for if she had, she more than likely would have had a look of disapproval on her face.

Either that, or she was just ignoring it. "It's good to be back in your good graces," Shun lied. He had to sell this, to make her think that he truly was loyal to her once more. Just because he was being forced to take out her dirty work, didn't mean that he really had to swear fealty to her; he had never sworn anything to her other than his life when they made their Oath.

Fabia held out her hand and motioned towards herself, telling Shun to join her side. He nodded and walked up the marble steps. It was then that he noticed just how many Knights of the Heart were standing around the throne room. They lined the walls and guarded the doors, ready to strike in case Shun tried anything.

The Champion wasn't that foolish; it was apparent back in Looking Glass Lake that, no matter how strong he was, he was no match for the sheer numbers of the Knights. Perhaps now he would have stood a better chance, seeing as his emotions were somewhat in check, but they still would have overpowered him in the end.

Shun took his place beside the Queen's throne and leaned down to ask Fabia a question. When he got within close quarters with the Queen, he saw all of the Knights of the Heart tense up like snakes ready to lash out at their assailant.

The Queen raised up a hand to tell them that their assistance was not needed at the moment. "Go on with your question," she told him. Shun nodded. Oh, how he even hated standing near her now. He had hated her presence before all of the recent events, but now, he absolutely loathed her.

He pushed down this ever-burning hatred and asked his question. "So, what have you done with the girl?" He tried to sound nonchalant and distant as to make it seem like he really had moved on like Fabia had ordered him to. The Red Queen moved a stray strand of her hair out of the way and said, "I have yet to figure out what to do with her. She's locked away in a guest room right now, awaiting her judgment. But the moment I come up with a way to rid myself of her, I will let you know."

Shun felt himself shiver at how callously the Queen spoke about disposing of Alice. If it wasn't apparent that Fabia didn't care about another person's life, it was crystal clear now. Shun nodded and said, "I see." He thought about asking the Queen if there was anyway that he could go and see Alice; he would say that he was going in there to get some payback on her for playing tricks on his mind and turning him against her Majesty.

But Shun had a feeling that he wouldn't even be allowed on the hallway where Alice was being held, so he held his question back. Fabia glanced up at Shun and said, "You are free to go back to your quarters now, if you wish. I only called you in here to show my Knights that you are truly back on our side."

Shun saw right through her plan. The Queen was trying to make it seem like everything really was back to normal in order to ease the mounting tensions in the palace. It was what the Queen was good at; creating illusions and making it look like everything was perfectly fine when they really weren't.

Shun had learned about that conniving quality when she tricked him into their Oath in order for him to keep his life and freedom. It didn't take long after that for him to realize that it made no difference whether he accepted the offer or declined; he had lost either way. Shun bowed beside the Queen's throne and said, "Very well. I will be returning back to my living quarters then."

He turned and began to walk down the marble steps. Within a matter of seconds, he had made his way across the throne room and was now walking down the hallways of the palace, relieved to be out of the hawk-like stares of the Knights. Shun allowed his shoulders to slump some now that he no longer had to hold that serious posture.

His mind was someplace else as he walked, but he wasn't sure where. He didn't really think of anything in particular; the silence in his thoughts felt like a heavy burden off his shoulders. When had been the last time his mind felt quiet and at ease?

He thought it might have been years, but he quickly realized that it had been while he was trapped in Looking Glass Lake with Alice. She had quelled his raging thoughts and put them at ease. Shun found it overwhelming by how much peace she had brought to him, and it pained him to know that she would be gone forever soon.

It was strange how quickly one person had changed so much in his life, in so little time, and had come to mean so much to him. With that thought, Shun began to wonder if he could really keep up his charade after Alice's life was put to an end by the Queen. Would he even be able to take up an audience with Fabia after words, much less even be in the same building as her?

He knew he would hate the Queen even more after that, if that was even possible. Worry began to build in the core of Shun's being. What if he lost it again as he had done when the Knights grabbed a hold of Alice?

He would surely be killed on the spot, and despite how much he currently hated his life in the Queen's service, he didn't want to lose it; if he did, he would have just told the Queen to let him starve down in the dungeons.

He still valued the life he had, even though it was horrible. While Shun had been walking and playing scenarios out in his mind, he didn't realize that he had walked right past his own room. Now, he was near the far-end of one of the halls. He quickly realized that the Queen's room was just up ahead, and for some reason, he decided to go inside.

It was one of the larger rooms in the palace; rivaled only by the throne room and dungeons. It definitely one of the most ornate, with long red tapestries hanging from every conceivable place. Shun's eyes scanned over the room and he recalled how this had been the first room he saw after he made his Oath with the Queen.

She had had her Knights bring him there while they set up his own living quarters. _What was it she had told me? That somebody as close to her should deserve to stay in a room as extravagant as this? _Shun thought to himself. All that had been another lie, another way to mask the truth about what he had accepted from her.

Shun strode into the room and made his way over to the two, full-length windows on the other side. They would have filled the room up with sunlight if the sun ever graced Wonderland with its light. Instead, it allowed in whatever light it could gather out of the growing darkness that loomed overhead.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shun caught a glimpse of a silver object. He turned around and saw the thing that had started it all; Alice's pocket watch. It was laying on the nightstand beside the Queen's bed, the chain hanging haphazardly off the side.

Shun reached out and picked the watch up, feeling the cool, worn down metal beneath his fingers. Holding on tightly to the watch, he returned back to the windows and opened them up, where he proceeded to step out onto the large balcony that sat on the other side.

Shun leaned against the metal railing and looked down at the watch as a light wind blew around him; the weather was unusually calm that day, seeing as how the sky looked like it was about to collapse and fall right on Wonderland the day before. He ran his thumb over the ornate markings of the contraption, then slowly made his way up to the button that opened the cover.

He clicked it, and the cover flew open, revealing the watch-face. The hands were still frozen on the exact time that it had been when Alice crossed over from the real world to Wonderland; 12:00 on the dot. Shun hated how it had been a careless error of his that all of this was happening.

If only he had hid the pocket watch better, then the Queen wouldn't have found it. She wouldn't have called out a search for Alice, and none of what had happened would have. But an ache formed in the pit of Shun's stomach when he thought about that.

If it hadn't happened, then he wouldn't have fell down into Looking Glass Lake and felt that euphoric sense of freedom. He would have never grown close to Alice and realized that he was still capable of finding happiness, even in the strangest of places. Perhaps it made no difference if the Queen had seen the watch or not.

Maybe all of this would have happened in the end, just at a later time. Shun wrapped the silver chain around his hand and allowed the pocket watch to dangle in the air. The wind blew it side-to-side, slowly causing it to build momentum and swing back and forth. He then looked past the watch and at the room that was on the other side of the courtyard.

From the distance he was at, Shun could barely make out the form of somebody sitting perfectly still on a bed through the room's window. It was only when the person turned their head to the side, did he see that it was Alice. _So that's the room that the Queen is keeping her in, _Shun thought to himself.

He entertained the idea of sneaking into the room and breaking Alice out. And if anyone asked, he would just say that she ambushed him and ran off. But there was the problem of explaining why he was near her room, or why he had even gone in there in the first place.

His plan was flawed, that, he could not deny. Shun tightly clutched the pocket watch in his hand and said to himself, "I'll find a way to save you before it's too late. I promise." He then shoved the watch into his breast pocket and left out of the Queen's room, unaware of the Knight that standing at the end of the hallway.

_~O~_

Fabia had just sent Shun back to his living quarters after the little show she put on for her Knights. It was a means to get them to relax around her Champion; the Queen didn't need her Knights being paranoid and accidentally hurt her Champion.

Now that she felt that things were a bit more at ease, she dismissed the Knights away and sat in solitude in her throne room. That is, until another Knight, who had not been present for her and her Champion's conversation, came barging it. He was a new recruit; Fabia could tell just by how badly he trembled in her presence.

The young Knight quickly knelt down and fisted his trembling hand over his heart. "Y-Your Majesty, I h-have something that you may want to hear," he stammered out. Fabia narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Well? Spit it out, already? You're trying my patience."

She could see that his shaking only got worse from there. The young Knight locked eyes with her, and Fabia could see that he wished he hadn't. "U-Uh….Oh! Right….I saw your Champion leaving out of your room a second ago….I fear he might be plotting against you, your Majesty. It is in your best intentions that you caution yourself around him."

Fabia felt her eyes narrowed, but not at the Knight; she had narrowed them in thought. What business did her Champion have in her room? There was nothing of importance to him in there, unless the young Knight was correct about him plotting against her again.

Her Champion could have been staking out the room, looking for the best place to hide and wait for her to go to sleep at night so he could jump out and kill her while she was unable to defend herself. Fabia wasn't going to allow that to happen.

It was clear that her Champion's loyalty was not exactly where it needed to belong; it was still lost and in much desperate need of being brought back home. Fabia tapped her chin with her fingernail as she thought of how to get him back in line. It then occurred to her that he had acquired this strange behavior after spending time with the human girl, and the Queen began to put two-and-two together.

If she got rid of the girl, made an example out of her as she had done the Hatter and his family, then perhaps it would be enough to snap her Champion back into his senses. Plus, with the girl gone, he would have no reason to continue to fight against her Majesty.

Before this, Fabia had been trying to figure out a way to get rid of the human. Now, she saw the girl's demise forming before her very eyes, and it would be an ironic way for the orange-haired maiden to go.

The Queen smiled down at the Knight and said, "Thanks to you, I believe I have found a way to put an end to that human's life. It is late now, so I shall wait until tomorrow morning to put my plan into action. In the meantime, try and locate my Champion and tell him I request his audience here, first thing that morning. Also, take the girl to the main room and have her wait there."

The Knight nodded and cautiously asked, "Um, your Majesty? Might I ask what you are planning on doing?" Fabia's lips curved up into a devilish smile. "That, my young Knight," she replied with a purr, "will all be revealed tomorrow."

* * *

warning about an upcoming chapter; you all will hate me for it. but don't worry, i have it all planned out, and i assure you, there will be a happy ending. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	26. Behind The Crimson Door

_~O~_

Alice woke from the sound of knocking. She sat up, her hair messed up and sticking to the sides of her face, and rubbed away the last of the sleep out of her eyes. She wasn't exactly sure how she was able to fall asleep in this place, seeing as it was nothing more than her tomb.

But maybe it was her mind's desire to escape the horrible fate that awaited her that drove her to sleep. Regardless, it hadn't been a peaceful sleep. The door was unlocked and several Knights stepped inside of her room. They stood rigidly and wore stone-cold expressions on their faces, making them look like they weren't even alive. As they stood up, Alice felt a chill slither down her spine.

These Knights were here to take her away, to take her to her death. As much as Alice had tried to convince herself that she was ready to face her judgment, she suddenly felt herself break out into a cold-sweat; she didn't want to die. Then again, who would? Especially by the hands of the Queen?

One of the Knights, who appeared to be the youngest out of the trio, stepped forward and held his armor-adorned hand out to her. "Ma'am, if you'd please come with us," he said, his voice just as false as his appearance. Alice looked at the hand, knowing that there was no point in trying to resist; she was as good as dead, and she knew it.

Sighing, she took the Knight's hand and allowed him to escort her out of the room. He led the way, while the two others that had accompanied him flanked behind Alice, creating a barrier between her and freedom if she tried to run. But Alice had no intentions of running; she just wanted to get this over with.

She wanted an end to come to all of the craziness that had permeated its way into her life. She wanted a sense or normality again, and if death was the only way to regain that, then she would take it. As they walked down the long, crimson accented corridor, Alice grew tired of the silence that the Knights brought with them.

She craned her neck and asked the Knight in front, "So, what exactly is the Queen planning on doing with me? Or are you not allowed to tell me how I'm going to die?" The young Knight glanced over his shoulder and replied with, "None of us know what fate awaits you. All we were asked to do was to bring you to the Grand Hall."

Alice felt that the Knight was telling her the truth, that they didn't even know what would happen to her, even though it was difficult to be sure due to his monotone voice. They walked a bit further, and Alice found herself once more bothered by the silence.

So, she tried to strike up another conversation with the Knight in front of her. She asked him, "What about the Queen's Champion? Is he going to be executed for his actions, or has it already happened?" A bitter taste was left in Alice's mouth when she asked that; it was completely possible that Shun had already been punished for his betrayal to the Queen.

The young Knight shook his head and told her, "No, the Champion is still alive and well. He's atoned for his actions and the Queen has forgiven him….For the most part. Regardless, he is back in her services." Alice felt something knot up in the pit of her stomach. Shun had gone back to serve the Queen?

She was sure that, as much as he hated the Red Queen, he would have told her to kill him rather than resume working for her. It was obvious that being bound to that witch was a lot worse than death from what Alice had gathered about it. "I see," she said under her breath and continued to follow behind the leading Knight.

Up ahead, she saw the large arch of a door. It had crimson-red drapes that hung by the sides, whose sole purpose was to make the door look all the more regal. The young Knight reached out and pushed the massive doors open, revealing what could have only been the Grand Hall.

It was a large room, with a high ceiling that looked like it might have been able to touch the sky if it was just a bit taller. Extravagant paintings and decorations lined the walls, and several balconies hung overhead. Alice figured that this room was used to large social gatherings and performances.

Her eyes fell onto the marble floor. In the center, was a large section of tile that was bright red and laid out into the shape of a heart; the centerpiece to all the other accents in the room. The young Knight had walked over to a far end of the room and motioned for Alice to follow him.

She nodded and obediently joined his side. While standing there, she adjusted the skirt of the dress that had been given to her upon her arrival to the palace. The purple, swirling-pattern on the dress stood out against all of the crimson colors, making Alice feel like a dove among crows, something that didn't belong.

Suddenly, Knights starting to file into the Grand Hall. They stood against the walls of the circular room, rigid and statue-like as ever. A feeling of forewarn washed over Alice, and she felt her heart speed up and flutter nervously in her chest. Were all these Knights going to kill her?

Make her suffer an agonizing and savage death? A hand was then placed on her shoulder, causing Alice to cry out in surprise and jump back. When she turned around, she saw it was the young Knight; she had forgotten that he was still standing beside her. He told her, "Don't worry. They aren't your punishment. They are only here to make sure you don't somehow escape."

Alice relaxed a bit, but anxiousness still had her on end; if these Knights weren't going to be her executioner, then who was? Across from where she was standing, behind another grand, crimson door, Alice heard the opening and closing of other doors, followed by footsteps that echoed loudly throughout the empty hallways that made up the palace.

She then heard the clicking of heels overhead, and Alice looked up to find that she had an audience now. In one of the balconies, there stood the Red Queen. Something about the Queen's cat-like, piercing green eyes made a chill run down Alice's spine. The Queen raised her hand out in front of her, a very regal-looking pose, and said, "You may already know who I am, but I feel that introductions are still in order. I am Fabia, Queen of Wonderland. And might I ask you for your name?"

Her voice was smooth, almost like silk, but it was also menacing and dark at the same time; the Queen may have looked beautiful, but Alice knew that there was nothing beautiful on the inside. Alice held her chin up and said calmly, "My name is Alice."

Fabia smiled down at her and said, "Well, Alice, it's a shame that you can't stay and enjoy all the beauty of Wonderland, but it is quite obvious that you must go, for you are a threat to my reign. Captain, would you please prep our dear guest for her punishment?"

A Knight stepped away from the wall, and Alice recognized him as the man that Shun was about to kill, before he was struck in the head with a mace. The Captain held something in his hand, and when he offered it to Alice, she realized what it was; a sword.

With a shaking hand, Alice took the blade, which was a bit heavier than it looked, and examined it. It wasn't very ornate except for around the hilt, where a small golden cross with wings outstretched behind it was inlaid into the metal. The blade shone brightly and she could see her reflection in the steel; she looked terrified.

Alice tore her gaze away from her reflection and looked back up at the Queen. Fabia motioned down towards the door that was below her balcony and said, "Open the door and let's get this over with." The massive crimson doors slowly creaked open, and Alice felt her eyes grow wide.

_~O~_

Shun sat on the bench at the foot of his bed, holding the silver pocket watch in his hand and gazing down on the contraption. He sat there, opening and closing the cover of the watch as he pondered how he would save Alice before it was too late, but he kept coming up empty handed. No matter what scenarios he played out in his mind, they always ended with Alice dying.

If he tried to turn against the Queen in an attempt to free Alice, then all Fabia would do is enforce her power over their Oath and make him go after the orange-haired girl. And if the Queen did that, then Shun would become a mindless puppet and have no choice but to do as he was told, whether he wanted to or not. All of his scenarios were like that. They all resulted in utter failure.

"What do I do?" he muttered under his breath and rubbed his thumb over the smooth metal of the pocket watch. A knock came from his door, and Shun quickly slipped the watch into the pocket of his uniform and stood up. The door opened, and in came the Queen.

Her face was as unreadable as ever, but by the way she was carrying herself, Shun knew that she was up to no good. He noticed that she was in one of her crimson formal dresses that she only wore for social gatherings, or for executions. A knot formed in the pit of his stomach. _Don't tell me I'm out of time. _Fabia smoothed out the wrinkles in the skirt of her floor-length dress and said casually, "Walk with me, my Champion. I have things to discuss with you."

She turned around and started down the hallway. Shun remained standing beside his bed for a moment, debating on whether or not he should go with the Queen. But he quickly reminded himself he had to play the role of loyal servant again, and followed after her. Once he caught up with her, he moved to walk by her side, as to not step on the train of her Majesty's execution dress.

"Yes, my Queen? There is something you wish to speak with me?" he asked, keeping his gaze ahead of him so he wouldn't have to make eye-contact with her. Fabia nodded and said, "You are a hundred percent loyal to me, correct, Champion?" Shun felt himself get taken aback by the question. Did she doubt him still?

What would he have to do to earn her trust back? Not that he cared about having her trust, it would just make his life easier to not have eyes on him all the time. "Of course, your Majesty. I am loyal to you still. I have always been loyal to you. As you told me, what happened in Looking Glass Lake was only an illusion. I allowed myself to become lost and confused. I assure you, I am past that now," he said flatly.

The words made him sick. How could he truly believe that what happened at the Lake was an illusion? That was the thing; he couldn't. He knew what happened had been real, and that he had been happy. It was no trick of the mind.

Fabia placed her hand on his shoulder and said without making eye-contact, "I believe you, Shun, but surely you must understand my concerns about where you heart truly lies. Don't you see why I would wonder if your loyalty lies with me?" Shun bit his lower lip and nodded once.

"Yes, I see why you would doubt my word, seeing as what altercation broke out between the Knights and myself. But I assure you, I am back on your side, your Majesty." He caught a glimpse of a sly grin on the Queen's lips, but that smile quickly vanished. Shun then realized that he was playing himself into a trap, but what that trap was, he didn't know.

All he did know, was that he might not be able to dig himself out of the hole of lies he had created. Fabia stopped in front of one of the large, crimson doors that led into the Grand Hall and said, "You do fully remember the terms of our Oath, correct?"

Shun nodded, wondering why he needed a refresher when he knew their horrible effects so well. "I do," he replied. As if the Queen didn't hear him, she went on about with the stipulations of their bond. "You are bound to me by our Blood Oath, meaning that you must carry out my orders with no defiance. You are to execute my orders flawlessly and swiftly. If you disobey my orders, I am more than capable of taking full control over you. Just remember that, my Champion. Now, I ask that you stay right here for a moment. I have something to take care of."

She squared her shoulders back like she did when preparing herself to address an audience, then walked up a small staircase that led up to one of the balconies of the Grand Hall. Shun stood on the other side of the crimson door, somewhat confused.

He could hear talk in the room through the door, but it was so muffled that he was unable to hear clearly. Suddenly, the door slowly creaked open, blinding Shun for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the light difference in the Grand Hall. But when his eyes came back into focus, he wished they had not.

He found himself staring right at Alice, a sword of her own in her hands. Her brown eyes were wide and filled with shock; Shun knew his had to be the same way.

He tried to shake as much of the shock away as he stepped into the Grand Hall. "What's all this about?" he asked, feeling fear building up within the core of his being. Fabia, without looking at him, said with a twisted smile, "You are to fight dear Alice, and you are to kill her. That is an order."

* * *

_Chapter title based on the song Behind The Crimson Door by HIM. _OH Y GOD. this has been the best week of my life! first, sorry for not uploading this week. it was prom week and i had a lot of getting ready to do. but prom, which was last night, was awesome.

ironically enough, it was Alice In Wonderland themed (i came up with this story idea WAY before the theme was announced, so no, i didnt get the idea from prom). but i just got the best phone call of my life. I don't know if any of you remember a few months back when I went to audition for the Lions Band back in November to try and get into a very prestigious band.

Well, I didn't make the first chair, and they could only take one Bari player. But if that person dropped out, then I was their alternate. Well, due to a series of events that involved an Alto player dropping out and the first chair Bari player taking his spot, I made it into the band!

I will, hopefully if my dad can afford it, be going to Germany in July to play with this band! I cried tears of joy for the first time in my life! well, I've babbled on enough about my life. Read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	27. Shattered Hearts

_~O~_

Shun turned around and looked at the Queen, who was standing nonchalantly on the balcony above. "You can't-" He was cut off in the middle of his protest by the wave of the Queen's hand. "Are you defying one of my orders? Do you not remember the terms of our agreement?" she asked, her shocking green eyes boring a hole through Shun's soul.

He then felt something in his chest tighten, almost causing him to drop to the ground of surprise, but he held his ground. He looked up and saw that the Queen's other hand was resting by her side, slowly bunching up into a fist as she enforced her control over their Oath.

The expression on her face was that of a challenge; she was daring Shun to go against her, to continue to struggle against her command. And he knew if he did, then she would go and use the full power of their Oath, ripping away the last of his free will. When that happened, he would be nothing more than a mindless puppet that was at her mercy.

Something clicked within the depths of Shun's thoughts; if Fabia took total control over him, then she would make him harm Alice. He had a feeling that the Queen would make him harm her slowly and painfully to make both of them suffer. If he just went ahead and took out the Queen's order and fought the orange-haired girl, then he could at least make her death swift and painless, which was more than could be said if Fabia had her way.

Shun tried to relax, but that was difficult to do since he could still feel the threads of the Oath lingering about. "No, your Majesty," he muttered under his breath, "I am not defying you. Excuse my outburst." Fabia's lips curled into a twisted smile; she had gotten exactly what she wanted.

Maybe it would have been better if Shun let the Queen take total control over him. That way, he at least wouldn't be aware of the pain he would be causing Alice. But this way, he could make her death swift, but he would also consciously know what he was doing.

The Queen rested her hands on the railing of her balcony and said, "You are excused, my Champion. Now, if you would please execute my orders and kill our guest." Shun felt himself tense up and he turned around to face where Alice was standing. The orange-haired girl that he had come to care about so dearly, stood there with tears starting to run down her cheeks.

He knew the expression on her face all to well, for it was the same expression that the Hatter had had on his face that fateful night; fear and betrayal. _What was it that the Hatter had said back in that cell? Once a traitor, always a traitor? _he thought grimly to himself.

Alice shook her head and said in a hushed voice, "Please, Shun, don't do this. You don't have to do this." But he could hear in her voice that she knew that he had no other choice. It was just like he told her back in Looking Glass Lake; he never had a choice. Shun mouthed an apology to her as he reached for the sword that rested on his left him.

The metal made a sound as it left its sheath, and he swung the sharpened point down to where it was pointed at the marbled floor. Shun felt tears stinging at his eyes as he said, "I will not let you down, your Majesty."

_~O~_

Alice felt like her world was tumbling out of control again. Shun was really going to kill her? After all they had been through? Without even so much as a second thought? Alice tightened her grip on the hilt of the sword that was given to her prior to Shun's arrival.

She had never been in a swordfight before. In fact, the only time she had ever touched a sword was back in Looking Glass Lake when she saved Shun from the Jabberwocky. So, not only was she inexperienced, but she was also having to defend herself against the most dangerous person in Wonderland.

Shun raised the blade of his sword up into a ready position, and Alice quickly followed suit, mimicking his movements as best as she could in order to make it look like she knew what she was doing. Fear was starting to grip her body, and her extremities began to tremble.

For a moment, she thought that the sword was going to slip from her grip as her palms grew damp with sweat. But surprisingly, the sword didn't fall, and she held on tight. The two of them stood in the center of the Grand Hall looking at one another, weapons raised and ready.

It felt like time had frozen, or that it was all a bad dream; Alice half-expected to wake up and be anywhere else but here. Suddenly, the Queen's voice broke the illusion into a million pieces. "Off with her head!" Fabia shouted in a shrill voice that pierced Alice's ears and made them ring.

The frozen moment shattered and next thing she knew, Shun had charged at her and attacked. Instinctively, Alice brought her own sword up and blocked the attack. She pushed him back, putting some distance between them. They slowly began to circle each other around the crimson heart on the floor, as if it were some kind of formal dance that would have been held in this room on any other day that this one.

Their dance abruptly ended, and the fight resumed. Alice continued to block attacks; that was all she could do. She figured that she could at least delay her death for a little bit longer before her luck ran out. Above them, the Queen shouted, "Don't take forever! Finish her off!"

Fabia's shouting distracted Alice for a split second, and that was all that was needed. Next thing she knew, she felt the icy sting of a blade graze her arm. She cried out and jumped back, then examined her injury. It wasn't very severe, but it still blazed with pain as her flesh was exposed to the air.

Alice looked back at Shun, wondering how he could even bring himself to do something like this. She expected that his expression would have been cold and harsh like it used to be, but instead, it looked sorrowful and conflicted; he didn't want to be doing this. Alice's break from the fight was brief, for it resumed again without warning.

Once again, she was blocking Shun's attacks. She could feel her arms wearing out and growing weak from holding back the weight of each blow, and she knew that she couldn't keep this up for much longer. As Shun kept assaulting her with barrages of attacks, she continued to walk backwards to try her best to get away. But as she took one step, she lost her footing and fell backwards.

The wind was knocked out of her for a short period of time, but she quickly recovered it. She then looked up and saw that Shun was getting ready to try and end it there. He had raised the sword up and as he brought it down, Alice quickly rolled out of the way, causing the blade to strike the marble floor and send a couple of sparks into the air.

It was clear right there, that Shun meant business, that he was bent on killing her quickly, even though he might not have wanted to. Alice wasn't going to allow it. She wasn't going to let him kill her. She wasn't going to go down that easily.

As Alice kept blocking attacks, she thought about all the people in Wonderland that were depending on her. There was the March Hare, Dormouse, and Cheshire Cat. Not to mention the Hatter, who was depending on her more than anyone else. She was their face of the rebellion, she was their hope.

And here Alice was, right before the Queen herself. All it would take would be a split second for her to find a way to break away from all this madness and kill the vile witch right where she stood. Then, all the pain and suffering would come to an end. But how was she going to get up to the Queen?

Not only did she have Shun to worry about, but there were also all the Knights that were lining the wall. It was an impossible task when she thought about it more thoroughly. Alice continued to block the Champion's attacks, but as she took another step back, she stumbled a bit and lost her focus.

Next thing she knew, a flash of silver was shooting past her head. Everything moved in slow-motion as she glanced to her right and watched the blade of the Champion's sword shoot past her. The sharpened edges ran through locks of her hair, cutting some of them away and causing them to drift down onto the marble floor like little orange wisps.

Right there, in that moment of frozen time, Alice knew that there was no way she would be able to break away from Shun and try and go after the Queen; there was only one solution. She felt tears form in her eyes and she let out a cry of defiance as she put all her force behind her sword. She felt resistance at first, then that resistance gave way, and she saw blood explode from Shun's back, almost like wings of crimson.

She heard him let out a small gasp or cry. Alice then looked down and saw what she had done; her blade had pierced all the way through Shun's abdomen, and his white and red uniform was stained dark red around where her sword still protruded from his body.

She felt her eyes grow wide, and she slowly pulled the sword out of him. Shun instantly dropped to the ground, the sound of his sword clattering on the marble floor echoing and sounding louder than it probably was. Alice stood over him, staring down at what she had done.

She had had no other choice. The Queen had given her no choice, just as she had never given Shun a choice. Alice felt defeated and weak, and she wondering if that was how Shun had felt when the Queen took everything from him. Alice felt her world shattering to millions of pieces around her, and she dropped down into a heap by Shun's dying body.

_~O~_

The dream. It had been Alice in his dream. The dream he had had days before falling into Looking Glass Lake, the one where he was fighting somebody, and the silhouette of the person he was up against had tears in their eyes. Before Alice had landed that fatal blow on him, the dream came back into his mind.

The silhouette was no longer a mystery. Instead, it was Alice. He had wondered since having that dream about who would cry as they killed him, and now, he had an answer; Alice. Alice was the only one who would cry over his death. Shun laid on the cold marble floor, clutching onto the wound in his stomach.

His hand was warm and sticky with his own blood, yet he felt as though he were freezing. Through eyes that were blurred from pain and tears, he was able to make out Alice dropping to her knees by his side. Her face was hidden away by her bright orange bangs.

He heard a sob escape her, and he saw her shoulders trembling as she cried. She hadn't wanted to do this to him, the same way he didn't want to have to fight her, but what other choice did they have? The way it was set up, somebody had to die. Shun could feel himself slipping deeper in the waiting oblivion.

Around him, he could make out the frantic footsteps of the Knights of the Heart as they circled around him and Alice to make sure that she didn't escape; it was obvious to them now that there was more to Alice than met the eye. The edges of Shun's vision started to grow darker, giving him tunnel-vision.

There was something else though; he felt a lightness in his chest that he hadn't felt in some time. At first, he thought it to be from his injuries, but he quickly realized what it really way. His Blood Oath with the Queen was shattering, falling apart as his life slipped away.

He could feel the theoretical threads that bound him to her disintegrate away and free him from a life of pain and torment. In this case, his death was turning into his salvation. It was the freedom he had been longing for, the freedom that could only come if he or the Queen were to die. He only wished that it had been the Queen in his place so he could enjoy his newfound freedom.

But maybe this was his way of paying for all the wrong he had done. Maybe this was what some higher power thought he deserved. And who was he to argue with fate? Shun felt himself hanging in the in-between of life and death, and he found the strength to lift his hand up.

He placed his bloody hand on the side of Alice's face, leaving behind smears of red that bled in with her tears. He felt her tense up under his sudden touch, but she quickly relaxed. Alice brought her hand up to his and placed hers on the back of his, keeping it pressed against her cheek.

He could just barely make out her looking down at him with those chocolate-colored eyes that could be innocent one minute, then blazing with fight the next. Shun forced a slight smile and said weakly, "Thank you." Then, death finally consumed the rest of his vision, leaving Shun to fall into oblivion.

And since the forming of his Oath with the Queen, death had come to be his salvation and freedom. No matter what he thought and said, Alice had given him a sense of salvation and freedom, but it was true and permanent. It had always been death. Always.

* * *

EEK! DON'T KILL ME! -hides under her keyboard- I'M SORRY! SORRY SORRY SORRY! -trembles in fear from angry fans- I had to though. I've had this chapter in my mind and worked out since I started this story. But don't worry. You all know that there is a reason for everything that I write (for the most part). Well, this is one of those times. Don't worry though, there will always be a happy ending. Read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	28. Judgment Day

_~O~_

The March Hare stood a few feet from the palace gates, her band of Mads and a small army of people from Wonderland standing alongside her. They were armed with swords and maces that had been salvaged by Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. Nerves were starting to take a hold of Runo, but she fought them back down for control of her body.

This was their rebellion, this was what the Hatter had wanted for so long, and they were about to make it happen. It had been earlier that day that Julie, the Cheshire, noticed that the grounds of the palace were not nearly as heavily guarded as they normally were.

So, Runo accepted this opportunity and began to rally up people that would fight along with her and the Mads. They had gathered up a good sized army, but it still wouldn't have been enough to fight against the Knights of the Heart.

Their plan was to storm the palace, distract as many of the Knights as they could, while a small group went straight for the Queen. It was a risky move, but the unguarded walls were the perfect opportunity for them, seeing as Runo believed that getting inside the palace was going to be their hardest task.

The March Hare continued to scout along the palace walls until she found a section that was covered with overgrown vines. She grabbed a handful and pulled, testing their strength; they would hold. Runo turned around and said, "Climb up this way." She then began to scale the wall, using the vines like a rope.

When she reached the top of the wall, the March Hare examined the courtyard that was below. For the most part, it was empty, minus a few guards that were patrolling the area. But Runo had a feeling that they could take out those few Knights without gathering any attention.

She motioned down for the others to climb up. It would take a little while for everyone to get over the wall, so Runo jumped down to the ground and ducked behind a larger hedge to keep herself hidden, in case one of the guards looked up for some reason.

One-by-one, the rest of their people jumped down and joined her side behind the well-trimmed foliage. Julie suddenly appeared by Runo's side, causing the March Hare to jump with a start. "I'm sorry, Runo. I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted you to go over the plan again," the Cheshire said in a hushed voice.

Runo peered out from behind the hedge, locking her eyes on the door that sat a few yards from them. She then turned back around and told the Cheshire, "We're going to break into the palace, fight whatever resistance is placed in front of us, and then go for the Queen."

Julie nodded and tapped her finger on her chin. The Cheshire then asked, "What about the Hatter? Are we going to go in for him as well?" Runo rested her elbows on her knees as she thought about Julie's question. She finally said, "I didn't think about that. I suppose, if things look like they're going in our favor, you and I can break away from the group and try and find the Hatter down in the dungeons."

The Cheshire nodded to show that she understood. Runo looked past Julie and saw that all of their numbers had made it over the wall without being detected by the guards on the other side of the courtyard. The March Hare waved her hands in the air to gather everyone's attention.

Using hand signals, she gave the order for their small army to attack. Within seconds, the small army was charging up to the front door of the palace. Several Knights of the Heart quickly took their positions in front of the door in a last ditch attempt to guard the castle. But they were quickly cut down by Joe the Dormouse.

He was swift and quick as he blindsided the Knights. While the small army was running inside, Runo pulled Joe off to the side and said, "Good job, Dormouse. I'm glad you decided to wake up for this." He yawned and nodded, then ran inside of the palace.

Despite what anyone thought, the Dormouse was a very good fighter, and if given the chance, might have even been able to stand his own against the Queen's Champion. They were now inside of the Main Lobby of the palace, where Knights were starting to pour in from all entrances to defend the castle.

But even though there were a good many of the Knights there, Runo still noticed that there numbers were thinner than they should have been. _Something else must be going on here, _she thought to herself. Somebody was holding onto Runo's shoulder. The March Hare snapped back into focus and saw Julie standing beside her.

The Cheshire said, "This is a perfect chance to go and try and find Hatter. Do you want to try?" Runo thought for a moment. The Knights just barely outnumbered them, but Runo firmly believed that their army could hold their own against the Knights of the Heart.

She nodded to Julie and said, "Yes, let's go find Hatter. I'm sure he wouldn't want to miss the Queen's defeat." The Cheshire smiled her thousand-watt smiled and the two of them broke off from the group, leaving the fighting behind as they headed for the dungeons in search of the Mad Hatter.

_~O~_

Alice could hear the Queen's shouting, even though it was slightly muffled. Around her, Knights had encircled her, giving her no way of escape. But even though she knew what was going on, none of it was really registering to her. All she could focus on, all that mattered, was Shun.

He laid there beside her, still and motionless. He had thanked her. Why had he thanked her for killing him? Alice was sure he would have harbored ill feelings towards her. But it then occurred to Alice of what she had taken him away from; she had taken Shun away from the Queen, away from their Oath.

She had freed him. Slowly, the world around her started shifting back into focus. She was aware of how many Knights stood around her; about twenty or more. Alice could now hear what the Queen was screaming. "Kill her! Kill her now! Don't let her get away! I said kill her!" the Queen wailed.

Around her, Alice heard the clanking of armor and swords moving around. The Queen's shouted turned into a mad laughter. "Try and get through this, dear Alice! I'll make you pay for killing my Champion!" she shouted through her laughter. Alice glanced up at saw the Queen.

Her head was thrown back as she laughter, and her eyes were wide and wild; no longer piercing and elegant. Fabia was also clutching tightly to her chest, as if she had been stabbed. Alice quickly realized that the Queen had also felt the effects of their Oath breaking as Shun died.

"Go on!" the Queen bellowed, "try and fight your way through my Knights!" Alice bit down on her lower lip as she took one last look at Shun's still form. All the color had drained from his face, but it looked like he was sleeping. Alice knew better, though. Her eyes then moved past him, and fell on the Champion's sword that lay on the ground beside its fallen owner.

As Alice stood up, she scooped up the sword. It was much more ornate than the one that had been given to her, not to mention heavier. Now, she held a sword in each hand; hers and the fallen Champion's. She raised them both up, ready to fight and defend herself against the Knights that easily overpowered her.

Several of them sneered with amusement at her audacity, but Alice didn't care. She felt herself slipping into the same state of mind she had gone into when fighting the Jabberwocky. Nothing mattered. Nothing bothered her. She was in total control of her mind with one goal; live.

Alice's eyes scanned over the Knights that stood around her. Above, she heard the Queen laughing. "You really think you can take all of them on?" she asked and held onto her sides as she continued to laugh. Alice ignored the Queen and turned her attention back to the Knights.

The Captain, who was standing right in front of her, shouted, "Attack!" The Knights moved as one, and Alice quickly dodged the mass of attacks. She moved like a liquid through the Knights, slicing into the unguarded parts in their armor; behind the knee, the abdomen, and the neck.

Blood exploded from each Knight she passed, and they dropped to the ground, either dead or nearing death. Alice had never known herself to fight like this, and she didn't know how she knew what to do, but she just went with it, following it like an instinct.

The Knights charged at her again, and Alice brought the two swords up and formed an "X" to block the attacks. She then moved to her left, causing the momentum her attackers had to make them fall forward and land on the marble floor.

At this point, Alice had taken out half of the Knights, and she could see that the ones that remained were starting to think twice about fighting her. But the Captain ordered them to attack again, and they had no choice but to follow. Alice charged back at them and swung the Champion's sword out.

The blade ran across three of the Knights' armor, tearing it wide open. She then brought her own blade back and cut into their exposed flesh, sending a geyser of blood shooting forth from their bodies. Using the momentum of her attack, she turned on her heel and cut down the Knights that were trying to get her from behind.

They fell down and joined the rest of their fallen brothers. Now, all that was left was the Captain. He stood there, examine the bodies of his defeated Knights, then brought his stony gaze up at Alice. The Captain narrowed his eyes and charged at her.

Alice returned the favor and met him head-on, but at the last minute, she dodged to the right, allowing herself to now be behind the Captain. And with all the force she could manage, she drove her sword into his back. The Captain cried out as his body was pulled down by gravity and landed on the ground, pinned to the marble floor by Alice's sword.

She then removed the blade and stood in the middle of the carnage that she had created. Blood covered the floor with a crimson red, and now the red, marble heart in the center of the room was hardly visible. Alice then brought her gaze up at the Queen, who was holding onto the railing of her balcony, her knuckles turning white.

The Queen's eyes were even wider now, and the color had drained out of her face. "Y-You…," the Queen snarled down at the orange-haired girl. Alice narrowed her eyes at the Queen, then brought both the swords up and swung the blades down at the ground, throwing the Knights' blood off of the blades and returning them to their shining glory.

The Queen's face then contorted into an expression of rage, yet, she was smiling that twisted smile of hers. "I'll just kill you myself!" she said wildly and vanished from the balcony, only to reappear through the large, crimson doors that led into the Grand Hall.

The Queen stepped over her fallen Knights and grabbed one of their swords that laid in a pool of blood. Fabia smiled sadistically and said, "What a shame you killed my Champion. It was obvious he cared for you. How can you even live with yourself in knowing that you are the one who ended his life?"

Alice tightened her grip on the hilts of her swords and shouted back, "I'm afraid you have it wrong! I had no other choice but to kill him because of you. If anything, you are the one who really killed him!" The Queen's twisted smile faltered a bit, but quickly returned, followed by a laugh.

"I'm going to cut you into little pieces and paint my castle with your blood! You will not kill me! You will not win!" she shouted with mad laughter and charged. Alice tightened her hold on the swords and ran at the Queen.

* * *

HAPPY EASTER! have fun hunting eggs and doing whatever else you do today! read and leave a review on the way out! ~Copperpelt~


	29. Heartfelt Reunion

_~O~_

The March Hare and Cheshire, after breaking away from the army they had gathered, quickly headed for the stairwell that led down to the palace's underground dungeons. They were in search of the Mad Hatter, or more like hoping that their friend was still alive; it was very possible that the Red Queen may have already beheaded the Hatter.

As they ran down the winding hallways, Runo silently prayed to herself that they would find him in one piece. The further the two went into the underground tunnels, the darker it became.

Torches hung on the walls, but none of them were lit, which allowed total darkness to almost completely consume the tunnels; Runo figured they must have been getting close to the deepest part of the dungeons, and if the Hatter wasn't there, then they could only assume the worst.

The March Hare turned to the Cheshire and said, "Stay near me, Julie. It's too dark down here to be rushing. We have no idea if there might be a guard hiding out somewhere." Runo guessed the Cheshire nodded in agreement, but wasn't sure because of the increasing shadows.

But Julie stepped closer to Runo, ensuring that they would not get separated from each other. The two walked a bit further, their footsteps echoing off the stone walls. As they continued to walk, Runo stopped dead in her tracks, halting Julie as well. The Cheshire turned and asked, "What's wrong, Runo?"

The March Hare looked to her right at a single cell door and said, "I thought I heard something on the other side of this door." Cautiously, the March Hare approached the door. It was made of a heavy wood that, if not for the steel that was drilled into it, would have warped a long time ago.

Runo ran her hand along the grain of the wood, feeling how damp it was from spending so many years in the wet depths of the dungeon. Her eyes then fell onto a lock that kept the door from being opened without the proper key. "The other cell doors….None of them had a lock," Runo thought aloud without realizing.

Only when Julie responded did she realize that her thoughts had become words. "You're right, Runo," the silver-haired girl replied. The March Hare tore her gaze from the lock and said, "There has to be something, or somebody, in there if they locked this one and none of the others. Julie, we have to find a key or something to break the lock."

Runo was just about to tell the Cheshire that they should go in search of the key and return to this cell after they found it, but the sound of somebody running towards them caused her words to freeze in the back of her throat. The two girls quickly ducked into a crevice in the wall, both holding their breath in hope that they wouldn't be discovered.

Curious to see who had joined them, Runo peered out of the crevice and saw somebody knelt over, panting heavily from running more than they were used to. The mystery person, finally rested, straightened up and turned around and said to himself, "They've all gone Mad up there, but I should be safe down here till things calm down."

Runo and Julie both tensed up at the familiar voice; it was the White Rabbit. The Cheshire whispered into Runo's ear, "We should grab him. He's one of the Queen's loyal dogs. Odds are he'll have a Master Key on him." The thought hadn't crossed the March Hare's mind. Of course the White Rabbit would have a Master Key on his person.

Runo nodded and she and Julie waited patiently for the Queen's errand runner to step out in front of their hiding spot. When he did, the two of them jumped out and pounced on the small boy. He squealed in surprise as they wrestled him to the ground, pinning his arms behind his back.

"Help! Somebody! Help me!" the White Rabbit cried out, his voice bouncing off the walls. Runo covered his mouth with her hand and said harshly, "Nobody's going to help you, so stop your yelling!" The White Rabbit must have realized that her words rang true, for he stopped his struggling and shouting.

Now, he laid there on the ground, both of them holding him down, and completely submissive. Slowly, Runo removed her hand from his mouth; he didn't make so much as a sound. The March Hare looked down at the small blonde with disgust.

It was well-known in Wonderland that the races of the March Hares and the White Rabbits never got along; they always saw the other as inferior or filthy. But the fact that this particular White Rabbit was as close to the Red Queen as her Champion made Runo's stomach turn with pure revulsion.

She could feel the small boy trembling beneath her, and she felt somewhat of a twisted accomplishment in having struck so much fear into the little traitor. Runo then felt something nudge her shoulder, and she turned to see that Julie was kneeling beside her; she had completely forgotten that the Cheshire was still there.

"Hurry up and see if he has a Master Key," the Cheshire said urgently, as if somebody else might show up, somebody that they could not so easily pin down. Runo nodded and turned her attention back to the White Rabbit. "Alright, you little brat. Do you have a Master Key on you? If not, then you better tell us where the keys to the cells are, or else," the March Hare said harshly in an attempt to hurry up and get the key from him.

When her prisoner didn't immediately reply, Runo dug her nails into the White Rabbit's shoulders, causing him to let out a small whimper. "Cough up the key, now!" she snapped. The White Rabbit closed his eyes tightly and said, "A Master Key is in my coat pocket…..Take it."

Runo didn't hesitate to reach into the pocket of his coat. She pulled out a single, silver key that was shaped like a heart at the end that you held it. The March Hare quickly stood up and turned back around to face the Cheshire. "Got the key," she said, "Now, let's hurry up and open up this cell and see if the Hatter is inside."

Julie nodded, then looked back down at the still-trembling White Rabbit. "What do we do about him?" she asked. Runo looked down at him, and suddenly felt surprised to see how small and defenseless he looked. But she quickly shook away any feelings of guilt or sympathy for him; he was an enemy to her, and she wasn't about to forget that.

"I say we lock him up in a cell down here," Runo suggested. Julie nodded, realizing that that was the only thing they could do; it was either that or let him go free and possibly bring in reinforcements to capture them. So, Runo reached down and latched onto the White Rabbit's small wrists and pulled him along behind her as they returned to the mysteriously locked cell.

Julie took the key and stuck it into the lock, and when she turned, the latch popped up, allowing them access into the cell. As the Cheshire pushed the door open, Runo felt like everything was going in slow-motion as she anxiously awaited to see if the Hatter was inside.

And sure enough, he was. He was laying on the floor in a crumbled heap. Instantly, Runo forgot about everything, including the White Rabbit, and ran over to the Hatter's side. "Dan! Dan! Wake up! It's us! It's Runo and Julie!" the March Hare shouted in a desperate attempt to get her dear friend to wake up.

He appeared to be severely injured and extremely weak. Cuts and gashes littered his body, blood stained his clothes. Suddenly, the Hatter stirred. He opened his eyes, his gaze looking somewhat distant, and looked up at the March Hare and Cheshire. "Runo?….Julie?…." he asked in a raspy voice.

Runo felt tears forming in her eyes, and she leaned over, wrapping the Hatter in a hug. "Thank heavens you're alive, Hatter!" she said through her tears. Cheshire joined her side and wrapped the Hatter in an embrace of her own, but it was nowhere near as emotional as the March Hare's.

They both let go of the Hatter and helped his weakened body into a sitting position. He looked back up at them, his eyes a bit more aware now, and asked, "How'd you guys get into the palace?" Runo, who still had tears of happiness running down her face, said, "We started gathering up an army after you were captured. They're up in the palace now, fighting off the Knights of the Heart. Julie and I broke away to come and find you."

She wiped tears from her eyes and added, "I'm so happy we've got you back, Hatter. It wasn't the same without you by our sides." He smiled weakly and struggled up onto his feet; Julie and Runo were ready to catch him if he fell. "Help me get out of the dungeon. I need to find the Queen's Champion…He and I…We have some things to finish discussing," he said sternly.

Runo and Julie both raised their eyebrows in confusion. "The Champion? But he and Alice both fell into Looking Glass Lake. They should still be trapped there," Julie stated. Dan shook his head and started towards the door, a slight limp in his step. "They're not. Somehow, the Queen got him and Alice out of the Lake. They're somewhere in the palace. I found out when the Champion was thrown into the cell next to mine…..," his voice trailed off into nothing.

It was obvious that there was something more than met the eye to this, but Runo and Julie decided that it was not the time to ask; it was the time to act. They flanked the Hatter's sides, just in case his legs gave out and he fell, and they walked out of the cell.

As they began their ascension back to the palace, Dan said, "I think the little prisoner you have with you got away." With that said, Runo realized that the White Rabbit had gotten away in the midst of their reunion. The March Hare shrugged and said, "Oh, well, it's nothing. There's not much he can do now, anyway. Not with a full-scale rebellion and battle going on in the palace."

The Hatter chuckled and said, "Good point….Listen, I want to thank you both for not giving up and keeping my plan alive. If you guys hadn't done that, then I'm sure none of this would be happening. I would still be locked in that dungeon, and the Queen wouldn't be nearing her downfall."

Runo smiled proudly at this; they had been so close to giving up on fighting, but it was a little spark of hope that things could change that kept that fight alive. "No problem, Hatter," the March Hare said through her smile. Ahead of them, a light filtered down into the corridor, signaling that they were nearing the doorway that led back into the palace.

Soon, they would step into that light and see what kind of carnage had happened while the they had been down in the dark abyss of the dungeon. Whatever awaited them, would determine where they stood in this rebellion; either all of their army would be crushed, the Knights of the Heart would be defeated and the Queen dead, or the fighting would still be going on.

When they cleared the top of the staircase, the three of them stepped into the antechamber that stood between the dungeons and the rest of the palace. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust, but when it did, they found themselves being greeted by Joe the Dormouse and about a third of their small army.

They were covered in blood, both theirs and that of the Knights of the Heart. They also had cuts and other wounds running along their bodies. Their eyes fell on the Hatter, and they all quickly swarmed to him, saying how happy they were that he was alive and so on.

Runo pulled Joe off to the side and asked him, "How's the plan going?" The Dormouse yawned and said in a groggy voice, "We took care of about two waves of Knights, but we don't know if we should expect another wave of reinforcements or not. The rest of our people are making sure that we don't get ambushed by a surprise attack. I don't think we will have to worry about that though. The Knights have probably all gone to guard the Queen or something. If they have, then this is our chance to take them down while we've got them cornered."

Runo nodded and said, "Alright, then, what are we standing around here for?" She turned and let out an ear-splitting whistle to gather the attention of those around her.

All eyes were now on the March Hare, and she held her head high as she shouted, "This will be the Queen's final day! Off with her head and down with the Queen!" There was a chorus of agreement as they all ran from the dungeon's antechamber in search of the Queen.

* * *

sorry for not uploading until today. I got home late Monday-Wednesday then had a Jazz Band Clinic Thursday through today. hopefully I will be back in a regular routine now. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	30. A Wonderful Demise

_~O~_

Alice stood before the Red Queen, her eyes fixated on the vile tyrant's piercing green ones. In a matter of seconds, the Queen's eyes and expression had gone from calm and collected, to rabid and mad with the downfall of the Champion and her Knights.

Alice was still surprised that she had accomplished such tasks; it had been one thing when she ended the Champion's life, but it was an entirely different thing when she took out nearly twenty Knights of the Heart. They were more experienced that she, not to mention much more protected by their armor.

But somehow, she had found the skills and strength to cut them all down. When she did, it wasn't like she was herself; it was like she had entered another state of consciousness, just like back in Looking Glass Lake when she saved Shun from the Jabberwocky.

But it was because of that state of mind that she had survived, that she had defended herself against the Knights and now stood before the bringer of sorrow herself, the Red Queen. The Queen smiled a twisted smile as she charged at Alice. The orange-haired girl dodged to the right, missing the Queen's blade.

"Sit still!" Fabia bellowed and turned on her heels to face Alice. The two exchanged blows on their swords and now stood about ten feet from the other, their eyes locked on each other. Alice was panting heavily, already feeling the effects of her struggle against the fallen Champion and the Knights, but she wasn't going to allow her fatigue to become a weakness; only after all of this was over would she rest.

The Queen charged again and brought up the blade of her sword, preparing to bring it down on Alice. But Alice, acting swiftly, brought up her two swords and blocked the attack. Now, she and Queen were face-to-face, only mere inches away from each other.

Up close, Alice could see how deep the madness was embedded in the Queen. It was clear that Fabia would be beyond reasoning, meaning that there was no hope in saving her, even if Alice wanted to. "Just who do you think you are, huh? You're bold enough to try and put an end to me with my Champion's blade? Ha! I think you've gone Mad, my dear," the Queen sneered and jumped back, adding distance between them.

Alice squared her shoulders back to make herself take on an appearance that she was bigger than she actually was, and said, "Again, you are mistaken, Queen. I am nowhere near Mad. It is you who has gone Mad! Just look around you. Look at all the pain and suffering that you've caused in the name of your power!"

The Queen scowled, but it quickly returned to her twisted grin, and she threw her head back and laughed. The laugh slowly died out, and all that remained was her smile. "You're a bold one, Miss Alice," the Queen purred, "I could have used somebody like you in my service. It's truly a shame you have to die here."

Fabia charged again, and the two found themselves locked in another intense round of battle. Nobody was landing a hit on the other; it was nothing more than a menagerie of blocked attacks, but that was what Alice was aiming for. She was going to try and wear the Queen down enough that one decisive blow would end it all.

Alice figured that this plan would work, seeing as the Queen had others doing all her dirty work for her. That could only mean that Fabia was nothing more than a coward and an unskilled fighter. As Alice continued to bombard the Queen with attack after attack, she noticed that Fabia's smile had vanished, and an expression of frustration was taking over.

The Queen was now trying desperately to put distance between them again, but Alice wasn't going to allow it. She kept bearing down on Fabia, never once giving the Queen a chance to get to safety. The Queen, as she took another step back, stepped on the body of one of her fallen Knights, and stumbled back, falling onto the blood-covered marble floor.

Her green eyes shot up at Alice, fearful madness spilling out of them. She then scowled and quickly tried to stand back up on her feet. When the Queen had gotten back onto her feet, but was still knelt over, Alice brought the blade of her sword down on the overly long skirt of the Queen's dress, pinning it into the marble floor.

Fabia, realizing what the orange-haired girl had done, reached down and pulled at the dress's skirt and tore it free from the sword that held it in place. Now, instead of a long, magnificent dress, it was torn and tattered, ruined beyond repair. The Queen's eyes turned into daggers at Alice.

"I'm growing tired of this!" the tyrant bellowed, "I'm going to finish you off!" Fabia charged again, her blade poised and ready to strike. In one swift, fluent move, Alice feigned to the right and lifted the blade of her sword out.

The Queen wasn't able to stop in time, and as she passed by, the blade of Alice's left a shallow cut in her stomach, tearing open the abdominal area of the dress and revealing the wound to the world; it was not a fatal wound though.

Fabia cried out and clutched the wound tightly. Blood oozed out and through her lithe fingers as she took in sharp breaths from the pain. The Queen then removed her hand and looked at the blood that clung to her, a look of shock on her face. "You….You drew my blood….," the Queen hissed, her words seething with anger.

Alice tightened her grip on the swords in her hands and said flatly, "You can be harmed like anyone else. You, Red Queen, are not immortal. You are not above death itself. Nobody is." These words seemed to work like another sword slicing into the Queen.

Fabia gasped and looked at Alice as if the orange-haired girl's words were new to her. "You're….You're wrong! I am the ruler of this land! I cannot be killed! You will not win!" she screamed in the midst of her denial. Oddly enough, the Queen's ranting reminded her of a child that had been told no for the first time in their life; it was nothing more than a tantrum.

Alice shook her head sadly and said, "Power does not make you invincible. All it has done to you is make you disillusioned. You no longer accept what is reality, and that is why you will suffer your demise." The Queen's eyes widened, as if she had just been slapped by Alice's words.

Fabia then lashed out blindly at Alice, swinging her sword around in hopes of hitting something, anything. Alice only continued to step to the side, not fearing the Queen's rabid attacks. Then, in one clean move, Alice tightened her grip on the Champion's sword, which she had commandeered after she killed Shun, and struck out at the sword in the Queen's hands.

The sound of metal striking metal rang out in the Grand Hall like a symphony of bells, and things moved in slow-motion as Alice watched the sword in Fabia's hands be cut in half. The severed end of the Queen's sword went flying in the air, end over end, and finally landed on the other side of the Grand Hall with a clatter.

Fabia's face was blank as she stared at the clean cut and the few inches of blade that was left attached to her sword's hilt; her weapon was useless now. The Queen lowered her head down and dropped the remains of her sword on the ground beside her feet.

She then asked in a hushed breath, "Why…..Why do you fight for these fools?….What is your reason?" Alice was somewhat taken aback by the Queen's sudden question, but she considered it nonetheless. As she tried to make the correct words form in her mind, her eyes drifted over to the Champion's motionless body that lay on the other side of the room.

"I don't fight for fools….I fight for what is right. Isn't that the reason that a Champion fights? For what they think is right?" Fabia lifted her gaze up at Alice, a look of confusion on her face. "You speak as if you are a Champion," she hissed.

Alice tore her gaze from Shun and stared right at the Queen and said, "I am a Champion, in my own rights. I have proven my worth today, I have proven that I am more than capable, that I am not some scared little girl anymore. I am not just one person's Champion. I am the Champion of Wonderland now, and it is my job to protect those that have turned to me for their freedom. And to do this, you must fall."

The Queen stood up a bit straighter, pulling her shoulders back to take on the form of a regal ruler and said, "Tell me one more thing, then, Miss Alice. How were you able to influence my Champion so much to the point that he turned against me and met his demise? Please, do tell me this. What did you offer him that nobody else could give him?"

Alice felt something knot up in her chest. Perhaps it was a feeling of loss, or more like guilt from still dealing with the fact that she had killed somebody that had grown so dear to her. She swallowed down the lump that was forming in the back of her throat and said, "I gave him happiness, something that you took from him…..I gave him a choice, something that you never gave him…..I gave him love, something that you will never know the meaning of."

Alice saw the Queen tense up at the last words. Everything the orange-haired girl said was true, down to the very last word. Without realizing, tears had started to form in Alice's eyes.

When she felt the salty drops reach her lips, she quickly wiped them away with the heel of her hand; she didn't want the Queen to take any kind of enjoyment in seeing her cry over the loss of the Champion. A feeling of pride then washed over Alice, and she stood up a bit straighter, a bit taller.

It was time to end this. The Queen had obviously been defeated, even in her own mind. Now, all that was left was to put an end to the vile tyrant's life. Alice took in a deep breath, and lifted up the Champion's sword that she held in her right hand, and pointed the tip right at the Queen's chest.

"I'm going to end your life with the very blade of your fallen Champion. That way, in some symbolic sense, it will be like he is getting the revenge that he so rightfully deserves." Fabia held her head up high and said, "Go ahead, then. Do it." Alice tightened her grip on the hilt of the sword and ran at the Queen; Fabia never even moved a muscle as her demise came her way.

Suddenly, a strange sensation overcame Alice as she closed the distance between her and the Queen. She felt like a hand was wrapped around hers, guiding her towards the designated target. She felt like a presence stood beside her, step for step, helping her finish the task at hand.

Alice, as she prepared herself to plunge the Champion's sword into the Queen's body, figured that the only explanation for this presence had to be that it was Shun somehow. She imagined him there, right by her side, his hand wrapped around hers and the hilt of the ornate sword as made sure it hit its mark.

In the end, he was going to end his abuser's life. The blade buried its way right in the center of the Red Queen's chest, right where her heart was, if she really had one. Fabia let out a small gasp and blood began to trickle down the corner of her mouth.

Alice watched as those piercing green eyes went blank and cold and the last of the Queen's life flowed out of the wound in her chest. The presence that had joined Alice's side, suddenly vanished, gone with the wind now that its final wish had been granted.

Alice let go of the hilt of the Champion's sword, and the Queen fell back onto the floor, the sword still protruding from her chest like a monument. She laid in the center of the Grand Hall, right where the marble heart was, and her dark, crimson blood seeped out of the wound and onto the heart, making it look like cracks were forming over the symbol, like the heart was breaking.

Alice gently placed the other sword she held in her hand on the ground and left the final resting place of the Queen. She stepped over the bodies of fallen Knights of the Heart until she reached where Shun's body lay. All of the color was gone from his face, making him look more like a statue than somebody who was once alive.

Alice knelt down beside him, not caring that the end of her dress were soaking up all the blood on the floor; it was already covered in it as it was. She then reached down and cupped the Champion's face in her hand.

He was cold, no longer warm and radiant with life. A sad smile formed on Alice's lips as tears began to flow freely from her eyes. "It's all over now. You're safe…..I'm safe…We're all safe…," she said with sobs racking her body and very being.

* * *

I hope the final fight scene met up to everyone's standards; it at least met up to mine. Read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	31. Grief-Stricken

_~O~_

The small army led by the Hatter and his fellow Mads cleared the hallways, fighting off any straggling Knights of the Heart that they came across. One thing Dan noticed was that the further they went into the palace, the fewer Knights they ran into. This struck him as peculiar; he figured the deeper in they went, the more resistance they would come across.

As they walked through a long corridor, Joe the Dormouse spoke up in his groggy voice. He said, "Before we all regrouped, I had overheard a couple of Knights talking about something going on in the palace's Grand Hall. Maybe we'll find her Majesty there."

The Hatter shrugged and responded to his friend with, "It's worth a shot. Let's head that way." Using the knowledge of the palace's layout, the Hatter easily directed his group through hallways until they reached two large, crimson doors. "We're here," the Hatter stated.

Joe and Runo quickly joined the Hatter's side, ready to fight whatever might jump out from the other side of the door. Dan braced himself as well; he had no idea what he would encounter on the other side. For all he knew, it could be something as simple as a meeting, or it could be something entirely different all together.

As he reached out and grabbed the handle to the massive doors, he was suddenly hit by the scent of what could only be blood. A sense of forewarn shot down his spine; there quite obviously was not a meeting going on inside the Grand Hall. If there was, then it had gone horribly wrong.

Dan tightened his grip on the door handles and flung the massive crimson structures open. What was on the other side, was an image that he couldn't have prepared himself to see, even if he had known what lay on the other side of those doors.

The Hatter heard several gasps sound from behind him, and he was sure he had let out his own sound of shock. Inside the Grand Hall, blood painted almost every bit of the floor a dark, almost black color. The bodies of twenty or more Knights of the Heart were scattered about, their armor cut open and blood leaking from beneath the crimson metal suits.

"What….What the hell went on in here?" the Hatter found himself asking himself. He took a couple of steps forward and entered into the Grand Hall. His senses were assaulted by the coppery smell of the blood, almost making him want to turn back.

The last time he had seen this much carnage with his own eyes, was back when Shun first turned against him and killed the Hatter's family. Dan's eyes continued to scan the room, taking in every square inch of blood. But his attention was directed elsewhere by the sound of sobs.

He instantly began to look around for the source, and eventually found Alice sitting in the far corner of the massive room, hidden by the horrendous sight of the Knights' bodies. "Alice!" Dan called out and started to run towards her, but found himself stopping dead in his tracks.

His eyes widened at the sight of who lay beside Alice; it was the Champion. _Shun's…..Shun's dead too? _Dan found himself taking a step back. "H-How?" he said aloud. Alice, realizing that she was no longer alone, looked up from the Champion's motionless body and locked her tear-stained eyes onto the Hatter and those who accompanied him.

Her shoulders shook as the last of her sobs escaped, and she brought her hand up and wiped away the tears from her face. "Hatter? Is that you?" she asked. The way her voice sounded so small, so scared, almost made her seem like nothing more than a little, innocent child.

Dan's thoughts were somewhere else entirely, but when Julie and Runo ran past him to be reunited with Alice, his mind came back into focus. The Cheshire and March Hare had wrapped the orange-haired girl up in a tight hug. They then lifted Alice up to her feet and helped carry her away from the Champion's body.

Now, the three girls stood before the Hatter. Dan shook his head and looked around to room one more time, as if he wasn't sure if he was really seeing all of this. "What happened here?" he asked while still gazing around the room.

Alice took in a deep, shaky breath and said, "Me….I'm what happened here." There was a strain in her voice. The Hatter looked at the girl in surprise. "You….You did all of this, Alice? You took out all of these Knights? The Champion?"

Dan thought he saw Alice flinch when he mentioned the Champion, but he wasn't sure. She nodded and added, "The Queen too….I got rid of the Queen as well." She turned her head and looked at the center of the Grand Hall. Laying there, on the marble heart in the center of the floor, was the Queen's body, the Champion's sword protruding from where the tyrant's heart would be.

It was then that the Hatter realized just how much blood poor Alice had stained her hands with in such a short amount of time. Acting out of instinct, Dan wrapped his arms around the orange-haired girl, bringing her into a comforting embrace.

Alice returned the gesture, and he could feel her body trembling as it threatened to be consumed by tears again. But she regained her composure and absorbed the Hatter's sympathy. Still holding onto Alice, Dan turned his head around and faced the small army that his Mads had assembled.

He told them, "You guys, start cleaning this mess up. Get rid of the Knights' bodies however you wish, but keep the Queen's and her Champion's to the side until we figure out what we want to do with them." They all nodded and immediately began to pick up the bodies of the fallen Knights.

Dan turned back to Runo and Julie and told them, "Help me get Alice up to a room so she can lay down somewhere and get some rest." The two girls nodded and pulled Alice from the Hatter's embrace. For a moment, Dan thought that she wasn't going to let go, but after a few seconds, she finally released him.

The Hatter watched as the Cheshire and March Hare escorted Alice out of the Grand Hall. Now, he was by himself, other than the people that were around him cleaning up the mess, and he strode over to the other side of the room where the Champion's body lay.

Dan looked down at the person who had once been his friend. It was strange seeing Shun like this; in a weird way, it was almost like the Champion looked peaceful in his death. Dan knelt down beside the motionless body, being careful not to kneel in the drying blood that surrounded it.

For years, the Hatter had wanted nothing more than to see what was right in front of him now. He wanted to see the Champion bathe in his own blood as he had made so many others do by his hands. The Hatter wanted to see the life flood out of his worst enemy's eyes. But now that it was right in front of him, all those previous desires left a sour taste in his mouth.

This was what he had wanted, right? Dan had wanted the Champion dead from the moment that his family was brutally killed. So, why was he not feeling any satisfaction in Shun's death like he thought he would? Did it have something to do with the short talk the two of them had had back in the dungeons? Was it because Shun had turned against the Queen in order to keep Alice safe?

Did his anger ease up towards the Champion because of that? The Hatter ran his hand through his shaggy, brown hair and sighed. Now, instead of wishing the Champion dead, he wished him to still be alive. That way, the two could talk, they could clear up the bad blood that had flowed between them for so many years.

But that wouldn't happen now, nor would it ever happen. Dan closed his eyes and shook his head. "I thought this was what I wanted, but it seems not all of it was how I really thought it would turn out. I'm sorry," the Hatter said and reopened his eyes.

When he did, he found himself looking at the fatal wound that Alice had inflicted open the Champion. But just below that, something glistened through the drying blood; it was a chain. Curious, Dan reached out and grabbed the chain and pulled. Next thing he knew, he pulled a blood-soaked pocket watch.

It was silver beneath the Champion's drying blood, and appeared to have intricate markings along the metal. Dan held it in his hands, wondering why anyone other than the Queen's White Rabbit would have such an item. Deciding it would be worth holding on to, the Hatter pulled out a handkerchief of his own and wrapped the item up in the soft, white linen, then tucked it away in the breast pocket of his jacket.

He then stood up after that and left the Champion's side so he could go and check in on Alice. Around him, most of the Knights' bodies had been cleaned up, and they were now in the process of removing the Queen and cleaning up the blood that was pooled on the floor.

By the way they were all working, this room would look completely normal within a matter of hours; there would be no way of telling that numerous deaths occurred there. The Hatter left out of the same door that Julie and Runo took Alice through, and with a little bit of searching, he finally found the room that they had taken the hero of Wonderland to.

Dan knocked with his knuckles before entering the room. On the other side, he heard Julie tell him, "Come in." The Hatter pushed the door open and found Alice sitting on a plush bed. The March Hare stood in front of her and cleaned the few wounds that Alice had obtained in her scuffle, while Julie sat beside the orange-haired girl to offer support if it was needed.

The Hatter shut the door behind him and asked, "How are you holding up, Alice?" Her eyes were cast down, hidden by her orange bangs; she didn't immediately respond to his question. Dan sighed and knelt down in front of her to be somewhat face-to-face with Alice.

He was about to say something in an effort to comfort her, but her words beat his. "He deserves a proper funeral," she said in a soft voice that had sobs lingering in the back. Dan looked at her with surprise and confusion. "Who?" he asked. Alice looked up and met the Hatter's gaze.

Her eyes were red and slightly puffy from where she had been crying; it was surprising to see her in such a state, when he only knew her to be strong and free-willed.

"Shun….The Queen's Champion…..He might have done some awful things in his time, but he wasn't ever the bad guy, the Queen was…He doesn't deserve to be treated the same way she does….He deserves better…..I understand if you protest against this, Hatter, seeing as how your views on the Champion were, but hear me out, please…..," Alice pleaded, her voice straining even further as she spoke of the Champion, humanizing him.

She appeared that she was going to keep speaking, but the Hatter knew that if she did, she would surely begin to cry again, and he didn't want to see poor Alice cry anymore. So, he placed his hand atop of hers and said, "He'll be given a proper funeral, one he deserves. I give you my word, Alice."

This earned the Hatter a sad smile from the girl, but it was a smile nonetheless. "Thank you," she said and tears pooled in her eyes, making them sparkle with sadness. Dan stood up and sat beside Alice.

He turned to face her and said, "I want to thank you, for freeing us from the Queen. We couldn't have done it without you, and we will be forever grateful for the help and kindness you have shown us."

Now, Alice smiled, but it didn't show nearly as much hints of sadness as the one when the Hatter promised that the Champion would receive an appropriate funeral; it was one that was more of gratitude than of sorrow. Alice grabbed a small handful of the blankets beneath her, and she lowered her head down a bit.

"As crazy and shocking as it may sound to you guys, he meant a great deal to me…," she admitted, "and I meant a great deal to him as well."

The Hatter let a small smile slip out and he said, "Yeah, I figured that when I spoke to him down in the dungeon and he told me how he had tried to save you from the Queen's Knights. I could tell by the way he spoke that he hated that he hadn't been able to keep you out of their reach."

A single, lonesome tear rolled down Alice's cheek from her eye, and she quickly brushed it away. She took in a deep breath to compose herself and said, "I know how much you hated him for what he did to you and your family, and I don't blame you for those feelings, but he really wasn't the villain here…..He had no other choice but to do all those things…..He didn't want to do any of it. He-"

Dan cut her off mid-sentence. The Hatter couldn't bare to hear her continue to drabble on, for the pain in her voice was starting to sink into him.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and told her, "Alice, I no longer harbor those feelings of hate towards him. Perhaps it's because he's gone now, or that he risked his life to keep you safe. Regardless, my feelings of loathing are gone. Please, don't worry anymore. It's all over."

The Cheshire, Julie, who the Hatter had forgotten was there, stood in front of them and said with one of her signature smiles, "The heart does strange things to a person, doesn't it?" The Cheshire shot a canny grin down at the March Hare, who suddenly began to blush madly.

"Julie, stop looking at me like you know something!" the March Hare snapped at the Cheshire. Julie only giggled and said, "Whatever you say, March." The silver-haired girl then vanished into thin air, her smile being the last thing to fade away. Runo stood there, a frustrated expression on her face.

"That Julie. She gets on my nerves some times," the March Hare said to herself, then turned and looked at the Hatter and Alice, who were both staring at her. Her face blushed slightly again with embarrassment and she said quickly, "Uh, I think I'll go and check on how things are going downstairs. You know, see if they need help."

The March Hare hurried out of the room to get away from the stares that caused her embarrassment. Suddenly, Alice giggled. The Hatter looked at her, a bit surprised to hear a sound of joy coming from the depressed girl. "I'm not the best at picking up on signs, but I think Runo might like you, Hatter," she said with a genuine smile.

The Hatter found his own self smiling at this. He said with a chuckle, "I've known for quite some time now. I just think that she's just now realizing it herself." The two sat there for a moment longer, neither one of them saying anything until the Hatter finally spoke up again.

"Do you want to be by yourself for a while? Or do you think you still need somebody with you?" he asked. Alice fidgeted with her hands in her lap, then looked up at the Hatter and smiled brightly. "I think I'll be fine by myself now. You can go somewhere else if you wish," she told him.

The Hatter nodded and stood up. "Alright. If you need anything, don't be afraid to come find one of us and ask," he told her. Before he walked out of the room, he pulled the linen-wrapped pocket watch out of his pocket and placed it on the nightstand in the room.

"Oh, yeah. I found this on the Champion's person. I don't know why he had it, so I figured it might have some kind of significance or value to you," he told her and left out of the room, closing the door behind him. As he walked down the hall to see how the clean-up process was going, he couldn't help but think how that bright and happy smile Alice had given him, had been a lie.

He knew all too well, that she was not fine; she was hurting, that much was easy to see. But he also knew that she needed time alone to grief, rather than being smothered and watched over by people in this painful time. The Hatter, pained as it made him to see Alice, who was so strong, hurt and suffer like this, knew that she would heal with time.

* * *

Guys, I listened to _My Immortal by Evanescence_ while writing most of this, and it almost had me crying. So, if you want to see if you get the same experience as me, I suggest listening to that song while reading this. And also, thank yo, Megamewgirl for your totally awesome review. It made me feel awesome that I created those kinds of feelings from just my words. Thank you so much! Everyone else, read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	32. Sunrise

_~O~_

Alice stood up and walked over to the nightstand after the Hatter left. When she got there, she saw that there was something wrapped up in a white linen cloth that appeared to be turning a light shade of red in some places. Cautiously, Alice unfolded away the cloth and saw what rested inside; it was her grandfather's pocket watch. She ran her fingers over the cool metal as if she had never seen the contraption before.

In fact, she hadn't even realized that she had lost it; there was so much else going on, that the whereabouts of the pocket watch was the last thing on her mind. Alice picked the watch up, holding it with the white linen cloth that had been wrapped around it. Looking closer, she realized why the handkerchief was tinged red; the watch had blood on it.

The Hatter had said he found the watch on Shun's person, and that made Alice wonder why the Champion had the watch in the first place. She wished that she could ask him where he had found it, and thank him for holding onto such a valuable trinket for her, but that would never happen. It could never happen. Alice used the cloth and began to wipe away Shun's blood from the watch, returning the mechanism to its shining, silver glory.

Now, the white handkerchief was covered in light red, holding the proof that Shun had touched the watch that the blood came from. She placed the cloth on the nightstand where she would see it and remember to return it to the Hatter so he could have it cleaned. Holding the watch to her chest, Alice walked across the room she had been placed in, and opened the twin doors to the balcony outside.

A light breeze rushed in, blowing her hair away from her face. Now, she looked out over Wonderland and all its former glory, but there was something different about the strange land. It wasn't as nearly as dark as she remembered it to be.

The sky was lighter and didn't look like it held the warning signs of a coming storm. There also wasn't a sense of forewarn hanging in the air any longer. Instead, that sense of unease was replaced by a calm stillness that Alice had not experienced anywhere else in Wonderland, other than in Looking Glass Lake.

Down in the courtyard below, the orange-haired girl watched as the Mads and their army carried cloth-covered bodies out of the palace. It was strange to think that it was all over, that the evil Queen was finally gone and the people of Wonderland no longer had to live in fear of their lives.

But with the Queen's defeat, it felt like everyone was breathing a bit easier. Alice continued to watch the hidden bodies be carried away from her spot up on the balcony, counting each one as they went by. When the last one was disposed of, she counted about forty or more bodies; half of those had been killed with her own hands, and the rest were victims of the Mads' assault on the palace.

Alice's grip tightened a bit on the pocket watch in her hands when she thought about all the blood that was on her hands. There was not only the blood of the Knights of the Heart and Queen, but also Shun's. As much as she kept telling herself that she had had no other choice, that killing him was for the best, she still couldn't stomach the guilt she felt in the center of her being.

This gnawing guilt made her wonder how she planned on living with herself from that day on. She was sure that it would be a struggle at first, but as time went on, she would heal and be able to coexist with the pain; Alice only wished she could start coping with the pain sooner, for it was almost too much to bear.

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. Suddenly, she felt a wave of warmth wash over her, and when she reopened her eyes, she saw that rays of sunlight were peeking through the gray clouds overhead. The light was gentle and inviting, and had a loving touch to it; never before had Alice thought she would have reacted in such a way to the sun emerging from behind the clouds.

She hadn't realized how much she had missed seeing the sun and feeling the comfort it offered to the world. As the rays of lights grew and expanded with the disappearance of the clouds, the warmth only grew from there. The rays worked like a warm hug, thawing out the cold exterior that had started to form around Alice in the midst of despair.

She even found herself smiling at the glowing orb of fire in the sky. Below in the courtyard, she found that she wasn't the only one enjoying the sudden reappearance of the solar object; all of the Mads' friends and allies came outside and gazed up at the brightening sky with awe.

When was the last time any of them had seen the light? Alice turned her attention back to the sky and wished silently to herself that Shun could have seen this site too. _He probably would have enjoyed it more than anyone else, _Alice thought to herself.

She knew firsthand just how much darkness had surrounded the Champion, and how cold his loneliness had made him. Yet, she had been the one that broke through that cold shield and provided him with some sense of warmth, with light. Alice quickly wiped away a tear that had started to form, then turned her attention down to the pocket watch that she still clutched in her hands.

She clicked the button on the top, which made the cover flip open to reveal the clock's face. The hands of the watch were stopped, completely frozen on twelve 'o' clock. Alice realized that this was around the time that she had broken away from her grandfather's meeting and chased after the White Rabbit. That day felt so long ago to her, and she couldn't help but wonder what he grandfather was up to at the moment.

She was sure he was searching everywhere for her, using all of the resources available at his disposal to bring her back home. It was a shame he would never find her in this strange land. Alice wished that she could go home, that she could leave this place of bad memories and broken dreams and tell her grandfather about it.

He might not believe the stories of talking flowers and vanishing people, or of crazy tea parties, but he would more than likely listen to her every word and tell her how interesting this world sounded, and how he would like to see it some day. Alice could just picture him doing that very thing, and that brought a smile to her face.

She leaned against the railing of the balcony, running her tiny fingers over the smooth metal of the pocket watch as she thought about all the worry her disappearance must be causing her grandfather. She didn't like thinking that she was causing somebody pain or worry, but there was no way that she could think of anything else, not with all the pain that was still coursing through her veins, no matter how much sunlight filtered through the clouds or how many happy thoughts she came up with.

A knock from her room snapped her away from these thoughts and back to what could hardly be called reality. Alice wrapped the pocket watch around her wrist so she wouldn't drop it again, and made her way over to the door. When she opened it, she found that Joe the Dormouse was standing on the other side, looking half asleep as always.

He yawned and said, "Miss Alice, the Hatter has requested your presence in the throne room." Alice nodded, despite her confusion, and followed after the Dormouse. He led her down hallways, and they eventually came back to the Grand Hall where everything had changed in only mere minutes.

The floor was no longer a sea of blood and bodies; all of that had been cleaned up now. But even though the evidence was no longer there, the memories were still fresh and raw in Alice's mind. She could still pictures the forms of the fallen Knights, the motionless body of the Champion, and the Queen with the sword jutting out of her chest.

It was all still very much visible to Alice's mind's eyes. The memories of Shun's expression as she impaled him with a sword, and his dying words, playing over and over in an endless loop in Alice's mind. She clenched her hands into fists and shook her head in an attempt to shake the images away, but they still hung on in the dark corners of her mind.

The Dormouse continued to lead her through the Grand Hall, and after going down several more large, crimson hallways, they finally came to the throne room. Standing atop of the marble stairs, was the Hatter. He ran his hand along the side of the single throne beside him as he looked at it with distant eyes, as if the structure was telling him something.

He then turned to face Alice, and a gentle smile formed on his lips. "I'm glad you joined us, Alice," he said casually. Joe yawned and left out of the throne room, his job now done; Alice figured that the Dormouse was about to go and take a well-deserved nap now.

"What is that you wanted, Hatter?" Alice asked and walked up the marble steps to join the Hatter's side. As she neared him, he suddenly closed the gap between them and placed his hands on her shoulders. Then, in one swift movement, turned her and sat her in the seat of the throne and walked down a couple of steps and examined Alice, as if she were a piece of art.

"I want you to sit right there," he told her and continued to scrutinize over her. Alice shook her head and asked, "What's going on, Hatter? I'm not really in the mood for games at the moment. I'm sure you understand why." He crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Of course. I'm sorry. I should really stop beating around the bush and get to the real reason why I called you down here."

Alice nodded in agreement. She watched from the throne as the Hatter paced back and forth in front of her. "How should I approach this without being too straightforward?" he asked to himself aloud. Alice raised an eyebrow and said, "Hatter, what are you babbling on about?"

He was starting to worry her, and Alice was starting to think that the Hatter might have lost even more of his already diminished supply of marbles. Dan stopped his pacing and ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair, then let out a sigh.

"Alright, then. I guess I have to get right to the point. There seems to be no other way around it." Before Alice could question him again, he hurried up the stairs and now stood beside the throne she was sitting in. His eyes were more serious than Alice could have ever imagined them, and so was his voice when he said, "There is an absence of power now that the Queen is dead, if you haven't realized that by now….Wonderland needs somebody to govern it justly, and after some talking with the other Mads and people, they've all agreed on one thing…..They want you to be our new Queen."

Alice felt like the throne fell out from beneath her, yet she did not fall. Was the Hatter really asking her to rule over Wonderland? "Me? Why me?" she asked, her words rushing as more stress was added onto what was already mounted on top of her.

The Hatter placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and said calmly, "Because you are the one that killed the Red Queen and all of her minions. You are strong and brave, a Champion of Wonderland like none other. Can you blame the people for looking up to you to lead them after you've already given them their freedom back?"

Alice shook her head in response to the Hatter's question. How could she blame the people of Wonderland for wanting her to govern their land? If she were in their place, she would probably want the one who killed the Queen to rule over the land as well.

She clutched the skirt of her bloodstained dress in her fists and said under her breath, "I'm flattered that the people think so highly of me, but I'm not sure if I can handle ruling over this place. What if I do something wrong? What if I mess up and ruin everything? It won't just be me paying for my mistakes; all of Wonderland will too. I don't want anyone else to get burned because of me."

The Hatter shot her a sad smile, but it was one filled with understanding. He patted her shoulder and told her, "I can see why such things would worry you, Alice, but you have to realize that nobody else may be fit for this role. You've got to remember that all of Wonderland lived in darkness and in fear for so many years. Many of them have forgotten how a world governed without the Red Queen was. To them, you are their light at the end of the tunnel, their savoir."

Alice thought about how she had been Shun's light, how she had brought him out of that dark hole he had dug himself into after serving the Queen for so many years. She had the ability to erase all of what the Queen had created; she had done it once before, so why couldn't she do it again?

The Hatter leaned against the throne and said, "If it makes you any more comfortable, I will more than gladly take up the role of your Champion and fight for you and guide you through all of this." Alice felt herself tense up at the Hatter's offer.

She was flattered that he wanted to be her sword and shield, but she wished that it was Shun offering his fealty to her. But as Alice thought it over, the Hatter was her best option now; he was the closest friend she had in this world, and he was more than loyal.

He wouldn't betray her, he wouldn't cross her or lie to her, even if he wanted to. She took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out and sat up a bit straighter. "Alright," she said and turned her gaze back up to the Hatter, "I'll accept your offer and become the new Queen of Wonderland."

The Hatter smiled down at her and asked, "Is there any title in particular you wish to go by?" Alice thought this over for a moment, then shook her head. "No. I just want to be referred to as Alice. Nothing like the Red Queen or anything like that. Just Alice," she told him.

The Hatter nodded then walked to the front of the throne, where he knelt down on one of the marble steps, his hand fisted over his heart.

"Very well, then. And as your Champion, I will forever be in your service, until my death. May your reign be prosperous, Queen Alice," said the Hatter with a smile. Alice let all of this sink in, and when she was sure that she was completely aware of what role she had taken on, she smiled down at Dan and said, "Thank you, Hatter."

* * *

check out my profile for a new poll concerning what story i should start next, seeing as this one is nearing its end. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	33. The Ghost Of You And I

_~O~_

The funeral for the Queen's Champion had caused quite a bit of controversy among the people of Wonderland, but Alice was there new Queen, and her word was final. Regardless, even if she hadn't taken up the role of the land's ruler, the Hatter still would have found a way to make the funeral happen.

Now, they stood among a small crowd that was gathered around a headstone. The casket had already been placed in the ground and covered with dirt, returning the contents of the box into the ground so the life cycle could resume. There was only the March Hare, Cheshire, Hatter, and Alice standing before the stone that still remained unmarked; the Dormouse was also present, but he was off to the side, sound asleep.

The funeral had almost been too much for Alice to bear, and there had been several times during it that she thought she would have to excuse herself from the ceremony to go and let her bundled up emotions out before they broke her down in front of everyone.

But she stood strong, keeping a calm composure; she didn't want to appear weak in front of her new loyal subjects. She wanted to appear like the strong, brave warrior that they had turned to in their time of desperate need.

But now, the massive people that had gathered to see the Champion laid to rest had gone back to their normal routines, leaving Alice and the Hatter's band of Mads behind at the gravesite, and since this audience was smaller, and closer to her, she finally allowed her feelings to come to the surface.

Tears stung at her eyes as they rolled down her cheeks. She was about to reach up and wipe the tears away with the back of her hand, but the Hatter reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. "Here, use this instead, your Majesty," he told her.

Alice graciously took the linen cloth and dabbed her eyes and face with the silk material. "Thank you, Hatter," she replied and started handing the handkerchief back to him. The Hatter closed her hand around the cloth and told her, "No, your Majesty. You keep it on your person for a while. You never know when the time arises that you might need it again."

Alice smiled at her dear friend and slipped the cloth into a secret pocket on her black, floor-length dress. She took in a deep breath and let out it before saying, "Things have changed so quickly." Her eyes drifted up to a bright blue sky, which was playfully dotted with fluffy clouds.

Only mere days ago, Alice had only known the color of the sky to dark gray, and the only clouds she had seen were ominous and appeared to be carrying a storm with them. Now, all of that was gone, changed with the death of the Red Queen. The Hatter, who had taken up the role of Alice's Champion, looked up longingly at the sky and replied, "It sure has…..You know, the last time I saw a day as beautiful as this, I was about ten years old, and it was days before the Queen took over. Because of that, I used to associate beautiful days as an omen in my youth, but as I grew older and wiser, I realized that with all the gray skies, a beautiful day would have been a blessing."

Alice glanced over at the Hatter, and saw that glistening tears were starting to form in his own eyes as he reminisced on his lost youth. She dug out the handkerchief from her dress pocket and handed it back to him. "And you said I was the one who needed this," she said with a playful smile.

The Hatter smiled back and took the cloth so he could rid his eyes of the forming tears. A moment of silence passed between them, and it was Dan that finally broke it. "You've taken the role as Queen in stride these past few days," he mused, "I'm very impressed." Alice felt a sense of pride build up inside of her at the Hatter's words.

It meant a lot to her to know that she was doing well at a job that felt so overwhelming, and sometimes like a burden. His words gave her reassurance, made her feel as though this new life was possible somehow. Alice took her gaze away from the Hatter and placed it on the gravestone in front of them.

The grave itself was separated from the graveyard that belonged to the palace, the one filled with royalty passed and their Champions fallen; Alice just didn't feel that it was right to have Shun placed there when he never wanted any of this. So, she made sure that he was a good distance away from the palace, the place that had been home to so much hurt for him.

His grave was right at the edge of the forest that surrounded the palace, right in front of a large, extravagant tree. When Alice looked more closely at the massive accomplishment of nature, she was reminded of the tree that the Rabbit Hole was under, the very tree that was the gateway to this strange land. She found herself walking past the grave, and placing her hand on the rough bark of the trunk.

Touching the tree gave Alice a sense of being closer to home, of being back above this underground land of obscurity. It reminded her that somewhere else, was the world she knew for so many years, the one that she thought was the only world she would ever know.

Alice felt a hand be placed on her shoulder, and when she glanced over her shoulder, she saw that it was the Hatter; the Cheshire and March Hare stood behind him and tried to wake up Joe. Dan smiled and told her, "It's time for you to return to the palace, your Majesty. There is a lot work that needs to be taken care of to repair Wonderland to its former glory."

Alice nodded and reluctantly left the site of Shun's grave and the tree. She wanted nothing more than to stay there, to feel close to the fallen Champion and home, both things that she could never have again. But Alice had business to attend to, things that were more important than her unreachable dreams, and that was to do her job as the new Queen of Wonderland. She allowed the Hatter and his band of Mads to lead her back to the palace.

Wonderland wasn't the only thing that was undergoing changes; the palace also was getting a makeover of its own. The crimson red that Fabia had adored so much was being torn down from every square inch of the palace walls and floor.

Alice had personally requested that it all be taken down, not as a sign of new power taking over, but as a means to get rid of the bad memories. All of the crimson reminded her of the blood that she had spilt days ago; the blood of the Knights, the Queen, and the Champion.

Every time she saw the color, images of the thick, red liquid exploding from Shun's back as she ended his life replayed over and over again. She just couldn't take that kind of reminder. So, to replace the red, Alice was having the palace redone in gold and silver.

To her, the colors felt more regal, more appropriate and fitting for the ruler of a magical realm. She walked into the throne room, the Hatter leading the way, and took her seat on the high-back chair as she assumed her seat of power. The Hatter stood beside her, his shoulders squared and his face serious; it was a totally different side of him than the one that Alice knew.

But then again, the Hatter had also changed in only a couple of days as well. Of course, he still was strange and eccentric at times, but since he became her Champion, he took things more seriously. He was her guardian, her protector, the one who would put his life on the line for her sake.

Alice was still grateful that the Hatter was going to such lengths to repay her for freeing Wonderland, and he was doing a great job and being her Champion. But to Alice, she only had one true Champion, one that had gone the extra lengths to assure that she remained safe and continued to live; Shun.

Ever since the two of them were trapped in Looking Glass Lake, he had been there, looking out for her. He had gotten her food when she didn't trust him the slightest bit, kept her warm in the middle of freezing nights when he could have let her freeze.

The things he had done for her were the truest acts of kindness and chivalry she had ever experienced in her life. Alice didn't realize that tears were threatening her again until she felt them starting to spill from her eyes. She quickly held them back before the Hatter noticed, then stood up and strode across the throne room. Behind her, Dan asked, "Where are you going, your Majesty?"

Alice glanced over her shoulder at him and smiled warmly. "Just to the balcony to get some fresh air," she replied and approached a glass double door. When she opened it, a wave of warm, gentle air brushed past her, causing the skirt of her dress to flutter with the wind.

She needed some time to herself to gather and compose her thoughts before she resumed her daily job of running Wonderland. Alice closed the glass doors behind her and approached the edge of the balcony, where she leaned against the iron railing. In only a matter of days, Wonderland had taken on an entirely new appearance. The colors of the plants and animals seemed to be more vibrant than what she saw when she first arrived, and the faces of the people were lit up with smiles and laughter.

Alice smiled sadly at all of the happiness that was around her, and she wished that she could fully enjoy it, but she was still grieving heavily over all of her losses. Her smile faded, and she let out a long, tired sigh. How had so much changed for her in so little time?

It still felt strange to her to think that one day, she was nothing more than an inventors daydreaming daughter, and the next day, she was the face of a full-scale rebellion and now the Queen of the land she helped to free. Alice's left hand drifted over to her right wrist, where she still wore her grandfather's pocket watch.

She wished that the watch worked, but Wonderland worked in strange ways, making time irrelevant. Alice thought that it would have been nice to at least know what time it was in the world above. But the only person she knew in the whole place that had a working watch or clock, was the White Rabbit, but he had vanished shortly after the Red Queen's fall, and had yet to be found.

Alice sighed and pushed her wish of knowing the time away, and looked down into the courtyard. Her eyes then widened, and she felt the color drain from her face. There, walking past the fountain that rested in the center of the courtyard, was Shun.

Alice thought her legs were going to give out from underneath her. How was this possible? "Shun….Shun!" she called out. He didn't turn and look up at her though; he only continued to walk through the courtyard, and eventually left through the palace's front gate.

Alice, who had been clutching the railing of the balcony until her knuckles were turning white, ran back inside of the throne room. The Hatter's eyes turned wide, and his body tensed up. "Alice? Is something wrong? There's no trouble, is there?" he asked frantically.

Alice was in too much of a hurry to answer the Hatter, and she ran from the throne room into the palace hallways. As she ran, she found it difficult to run as fast as she would like, so she slipped out of the heels that she had been wearing. Now, she was able to run at a full sprint; she just had to find Shun, she just had to.

Alice ran out of the palace and through the courtyard towards the main gate. She ran through the gate and now found herself outside of the confines of the palace. Alice searched frantically for any sign of which way Shun may have gone, and she finally caught a glimpse of him rounding the corner of the palace wall.

"Shun!" she called out and began running again. Her heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it might leap out from her chest. How was he alive? How was he here when she had killed him with her own two hands? Tears were also streaming down her face, but she didn't bother to wipe them away.

Alice rounded the palace wall and stopped dead in her tracks. Shun was leaning against his unmarked gravestone, gazing up at the sky as she and the Hatter had done moments ago. His eyes looked distant and far away, as if he was looking at something else past the clouds. Alice slowly walked towards him, her hands shaking with adrenaline.

"Shun…," she said in a hushed voice. When she got closer to him, she saw that he wasn't exactly as real as she thought. He had a translucent appearance, and when Alice focused her eyes, she could just barely see right through him. Shun turned his gaze from the sky to her, and a faint smile formed on his lips.

Alice felt herself having trouble breathing. "How?" she asked him, but he didn't answer. Instead, he chuckled deeply and pushed himself off his unmarked gravestone, then started walking into the forest behind him. He vanished in the shadows of the trees, but Alice felt that he wanted her to follow him.

She couldn't explain why, but she knew that's what it had to be. She stepped into the forest, being careful to step over fallen limbs and briars. Occasionally, her dress would get snagged on a bush or low-hanging limb and would tear the material, but she didn't care.

She would just pull the dress free and keep going. As she got deeper into the forest, Alice saw a familiar glow up ahead through the trees. The color and the way the light pulsated was so familiar, but she couldn't immediately place where she had seen it before. Curiosity driving her, Alice continued to head towards the light.

She pushed against low-hanging branches that resembled weeping willow branches, and what she saw in the center of the clearing brought back an assault of memories. The light was coming from a large boulder, covered with florescent mosses.

Little orbs of light floated around in the air; this was just like the boulder back in Looking Glass Lake, the one where she spoke to the murdered husband of the Queen. Shun stood in front of the large, glowing rock, and he turned around to face her, a slight smile on his lips.

Then, the little orbs of light fluttered about him, shielding him from Alice's sight. When the light faded away, Shun no longer stood there, but the dead King of Wonderland did. He said to her, "I knew you'd follow." A wave of crushing disappointment hit Alice when she started putting two-and-two together.

"That…..That wasn't Shun?" she asked. The dead King shook his head and replied with, "No, I'm sorry. I used that form because I was sure you would be more likely to follow. Please, do forgive me." Alice pushed aside her disappointment; of course it wasn't Shun, he was dead, after all. She had killed him.

How foolish for her to think he had somehow come back to her. "It's quite alright. You obviously wanted to see me very badly…..Your name was Jin, correct? Fabia's husband that she killed?" Alice asked and stepped closer to the apparition.

Jin nodded and said with a smile, "Yes. I see you remember some of our last meeting." What they had spoken about back in Looking Glass Lake was still somewhat of a blur, but she still remembered Jin's warning that the Queen would always get what she wanted. Right after that, the Knights of the Heart had stormed into Looking Glass Lake and took away every last bit of happiness that had been forged between her and Shun.

"I remember the important parts," Alice told him. Jin nodded and leaned against the glowing boulder. "Are you happy here in Wonderland? With your current position and all?" he asked. The question caught Alice off guard a bit. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I like it here. It's a great place, and really nice since the Red Queen fell from grace."

Jin's smile faded away, and his eyes hardened. "That's not what I asked. I asked if you were happy here, dear Alice." Alice lowered her head and stared down at the sea of green grass that rolled past her bare feet.

"To say I'm truly happy here…Would be a lie," she admitted. "I miss my home, my grandfather. And I miss Shun too, of course. But this place keeps reminding me of him, and it's only adding onto my grief."

Jin nodded and pushed his translucent body off the florescent boulder. He then said, "You know, dear Alice, things all happen for a reason. Even your coming here to Wonderland was meant to happen. Fate works in strange ways." Alice stared at him, her confusion mounting.

Was he saying that she was somehow destined to save this place, to fall down a hole out of curiosity and become a hero? She had a hard time believing him. Jin raised his hand up nonchalantly and told her, "What I'm saying is that your reason for being here has been fulfilled. You no longer have to stay here. You can go home now, if you so desire, dear Alice."

She let out a breath that she hadn't realized that she had been holding. "I….I can go home?….Really?" she asked, even though she had heard the ghost clearly the first time. Jin gave her a single nod. A thought rushed into Alice's mind, and she asked, "What about the Hatter and the rest of the Mads? Not to mention the throne that will be left empty?"

The dead King's smile returned when he told her, "Don't worry, all things happen for a reason, remember?" He waved his hand out to the side, and the floating orbs of light merged together and began to play images. "This is the future of Wonderland if you leave now," Jin explained.

Alice looked into the giant orb of light and saw two thrones in the palace. One throne was taken by the Hatter, and the other by the March Hare. Both of them were holding hands and side-by-side. Behind them, there was a rather heroic statue of Alice wearing the dress she had worn when she faced the Queen and all of her minions.

Jin waves his hand and the images vanish as the giant orb of light turns back into a the little floating spheres. He tells her, "They never forget you, and they never will. Nobody will." Alice thought back to the image of the Hatter and March Hare, ruling Wonderland together happily.

They deserved that happy ending, and if she stayed in Wonderland, then they would never get that chance to be together like that; Alice didn't want to be the one who stood between them and their happiness. She turned to face Jin and said, "So, I can go home?"

As she spoke of going back home to her grandfather, mixed feelings filled Alice. She was happy and thrilled to get to go back, but she was also sad to leave this whimsical world behind. But there was nothing else for her here in Wonderland; her purpose had been fulfilled, her time was up.

Jin nodded to answer her question, then asked her, "Do you wish to go back? If you do, then I can grant you that wish." Alice bit down on her lower lip and stood in silence for a moment longer. She stood there and absorbed the feeling of this place, hoping that she could hold onto it for a little bit longer when she returned to the world above.

When she was finally sure, Alice told Jin, "I want to go home." The dead King smiled serenely and closed his eyes. "So be it, then," he told her and lifted his arm out. The floating orbs of lights began to descend down on Alice, covering her entire body in a warm radiance. The orbs consumed her, and her vision was blinded with a brilliant light.

* * *

_Chapter title based off the song The Ghost Of You And I by Story Of The Year. _HAPPY SATURDAY TO YOU ALL! Check out the poll on my profile to voice your opinion about what story I should start next (make it quick, for there is one more chapter after this one, then the story will be done). Read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


	34. Memories

_~O~_

"Alice! Alice!" a voice shouted to her. "Alice, wake up, dear." She felt a hand on her shoulder, lightly shaking her. Alice reluctantly opened her eyes and looked up to find her grandfather kneeling beside her. She stared at him for a long moment, as if not sure he was really there.

The elderly man patted her shoulder and told her, "I've been looking all over for you. I finished up with my meeting and couldn't find you anywhere. I was starting to get worried." What her grandfather just told her hit her like a train. "You….You just finished with your meeting?" she asked, unsure if she heard him correctly.

The old man nodded and a look of concern grew on his face. He reached out and placed the back of his hand on Alice's forehead. "You're not getting sick, are you, Alice?" he asked. She shook her head, pushed his hand away, and told him, "No, I'm fine. It's just, it felt like I was…Asleep longer than I thought."

Her grandfather stood up, brushing grass off of his slacks, and told her, "Well, I've been threw with the meeting for about an hour. Come on, let's head back to the carriage and go home." He held his hand out to help Alice to her feet, and she graciously took his offer.

When she stood up, she glanced behind her shoulder and saw the giant oak tree standing firm. Cautiously, Alice approached the base of the tree, where the massive roots came out of the ground, and looked at where the Rabbit Hole had been. It was gone, nothing more than solid ground within the confines of the tree's roots.

Alice stared at it for a moment, then blinked her eyes several times to see if her mind was playing tricks on her. "It's gone," she said under her breath. Nothing was making sense. Alice was sure she had been in Wonderland for over a week or more.

How could she have done all of the things she did, and still make it back in time for her grandfather to finish up his meeting and go home? She shook her head and ran a hand through her long, orange hair. None of it was making any sense. Did any of it really happen?

It had all felt so real, so physical. Had the people she met down there never really exist? An ache formed in her chest when she thought about Shun never being real, nothing more than the creation of her mind. "No, it was real. I know it was," she told herself sternly.

"Ah, Michael. I see you found that lovely granddaughter of yours. That's good. Wouldn't want you to lose her," a voice said from behind. Alice turned around and saw that the plump man that had been present at her grandfather's meeting. He walked past her grandfather and approached her.

The smell of cigars hung in the air around him, not to mention sweat; his scent was stronger than she recalled it to be, and it made her want to gag. The client reached out and took a lock of Alice's orange hair in his hand and said, "It would have been a shame if something so delicate got hurt in this scary world."

Alice felt a shudder run down her spine. She looked past the client at her grandfather. He stood tense, obviously not fond of the plump man acting like this around his granddaughter. But the old man knew that there was nothing he could do to stop the client; not only was he not strong enough to do something, there was also the risk of losing a potential buyer for his invention.

Alice understood this fully, but just because her grandfather couldn't do anything, didn't mean that she couldn't. Her time in Wonderland, whether it was real or not, had transformed her from a scared little girl, into a fighter, a warrior. Alice slapped the man's hand away from her face and said briskly, "Don't put your hands on me."

The client's face grew red with anger and he snapped back, "You have the gall to tell me what to do? Somebody ought to teach you some manners, girl." He reached out again, this time to grab Alice by her arm, but she reacted quickly. She jumped just out of his reach, and took advantage of his momentary disorientation.

She lifted her foot up and kicked the client right in the side of his leg, causing him to cry out and stammer back in order to get away. Clutching his leg tightly, the plump man turned to face her grandfather. He said, "Michael, you need to teach that creature how to act around a gentleman!"

Grandfather tensed back at the client's retort, but instead of apologizing for Alice's actions, he narrowed his eyes down at the plump man and said, "I'm afraid that my granddaughter is no creature, and you, sir, are no gentleman. Our business is finished here."

Alice smiled at her grandfather as he stood up for himself and her for once in his life. The elderly man walked past the hunched over client and stood next to his granddaughter, a protective arm wrapped around her. "Come on, Alice. Let's get out of here," he told her calmly.

They walked out of the perfectly manicured garden where the meeting had taken place, and made their way to the carriage that awaited them. Alice's grandfather helped her into the cab of the carriage, then followed in behind her and closed the door.

He quickly told Alice, "I have to stop by town and pick some things up. You don't mind, do you, Alice?" She smiled at him and shook her head. Alice hadn't realized how much she had missed her grandfather, and she was relieved to know that she hadn't caused him weeks of grief and worry with her absence.

As the carriage made its way towards town, her grandfather suddenly asked her, "So, what did come over you back there? It's not like you to stand up and fight like that." Alice suddenly felt embarrassed by her actions. What she had done back at the garden was out of character for a lady, and would normally be looked down upon by most people; not her grandfather though.

She told him, "I got tired of laying down and allowing people to walk over me. Enough was enough…..I refuse to be the same scared girl I used to be…" Her grandfather placed a supportive hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly at her.

He told her, "I always knew you had a fiery temper beneath that red hair." Alice, forgetting her earlier embarrassment, smiled and giggled. So what if Wonderland might have all been a dream? She was determine to let her experiences there live on in her memories, and she would forever hold onto the lessons she learned there. The carriage rolled into the town.

People walked past the horse-drawn cart, carrying baskets of recently purchased goods. Two-story buildings lined the cobblestone streets. Some of the buildings had linens and other laundry handing out on railings as they dried in the warm sun. Alice used to wish of leaving this place, of getting far away from it and all of its hassles.

But ironically enough, she found herself happy to be back, and surprised that she had actually missed the loud chatter and yelling. It was home for her, even though she had come to a point back in Wonderland that she was about to call the strange land her new home.

Their carriage came to a halt, and her grandfather told her, "I'll be right back. You can come with me if you want." Alice took him up on his offer and followed him through the town's market. She watched as her grandfather haggled over supplies for his newest invention he was working on, and found that she had even started to miss this, when it used to annoy her that he wouldn't just pay full price for a certain gear.

Suddenly, the town's clock tower started to chime the hour; there were four chimes. Alice thought of something, and looked around on her person for the pocket watch her grandfather had given her. She found it still wrapped around her wrist like it had been when she left Wonderland, and she clearly recalled putting the watch in a dress pocket before she chased after the White Rabbit.

She pressed the button on top of the watch, causing the cover to pop open. The watch's time read a little past noon, when the town's clock tower said it was four in the afternoon. The watch had resumed where it had been frozen in time while in Wonderland.

"What? My old watch is wrong?" her grandfather asked and took the watch in his hands to examine it. "I guess the darn thing is starting to go out. Maybe I can fix-" Alice snatched the watch back and cut him off. "No! Please don't fix it!" she begged. Her grandfather stared at her with surprise at her sudden outburst, as did several passersby.

She didn't want the watch corrected; she wanted it just like it was so she would have proof that she had been in Wonderland, that it really did exist. Her grandfather said, "Alright, I won't fix the watch." Alice smiled and felt a blush of embarrassment cross her face.

She told him, "I want it just like this, imperfections and all." The elderly man smiled at her and said, "I understand, Alice." The two of them continued to walk through the market, picking up supplies as they saw fit. Alice clutched the pocket watch protectively in her hands; the watch had been something that Shun had touched at some point, and she felt that it was like a last line to connect with him after his death.

Her grandfather stopped at another vendor and examined the seller's wares. Alice stood close by, watching people walk on by. She knew none of them would believe her about her strange adventures in Wonderland. They would think she was crazy, or just making things up. But it didn't matter.

As long as she knew that it had all been real, she could live without anyone believing her for the rest of her life. Alice's eyes continued to scan the passing crowd, but they suddenly locked onto something, and she felt the color drain from her face.

He wasn't but a couple yards away, and was sitting out front of the Constable's office, an expression of boredom on his porcelain features. Alice's mouth felt dry. It was Shun. She was close enough to see that he wasn't a translucent specter like she saw back in Wonderland, and it wasn't a case of mistaken identity.

This was him, there was no doubt about it. He leaned back in the chair in front of the Constable's office and closed his eyes. Alice wanted to run up there, to revel in having him back, but for some reason, she couldn't move from that place. To her right, she heard several people gossiping.

They would occasionally glance over at Shun, then continue with their chatter. Alice approached the group and asked them, "Are you all happen by chance talking about that boy in front of the Constable's?" A woman, who appeared to be in her thirties, replied with, "Oh, yes. He's that nobleman's son that ran off about, oh, a couple months or so ago. Apparently, a couple of hunters were out and about in the forest nearby and found the lad passed out in the middle of the woods. Everyone had assumed he was dead, so they stopped the search for him."

The lady continued to babble on with the information she knew, but Alice no longer paid her any mind; her attention was back on Shun. The woman had said he had been missing a couple of months, while in Wonderland he had been there for years.

The only explanation Alice could come up with was that time in Wonderland was much different than it was here. Days in the strange world could be compared to minutes in this one. Alice drifted back into the woman's drabble and heard her say, "The poor child doesn't remember any of what happened while he had been missing, and not that much of what happened beforehand either. It's a real tragedy, if you ask me."

Before the woman could keep on, Alice thanked her for her time and started to approach the Constable's office. As she got closer, her heart started to speed up. What if he didn't remember her? Or what if his bout of amnesia was an act so he wouldn't have to be deemed crazy with stories of Wonderland? Before she even realized it, Alice was now standing before him.

Shun opened his eyes and looked up at her, and for a moment, Alice thought she saw a faint glimpse of recognition. But that was replaced with a look of confusion. "Yes?" he asked, "Can I help you?" Alice shook herself back into focus and said, "Shun?" He raised an eyebrow and asked, "How do you know my name?"

An empty feeling formed in Alice's chest; it was clear he really had no recollection of his time in Wonderland. She quickly replied with, "It's….It's the talk of the town…..You're reappearance and all." It was strange seeing him again, when the last time she saw him alive, it had been right before she ended his life with the end of a sword, and right before he died and thanked her for his death. Something then occurred to Alice.

Maybe this was why he had thanked her. Not just for freeing him from the Queen's Oath, but maybe for also allowing him to return back to the world above. Alice then told him, "I just thought you looked rather lonely over here, all by yourself, and figured you'd like some company. Mind if I sit?"

Shun glanced at the chair beside him and said calmly, "Not at all." Alice took her seat, making sure to straighten the skirt of her dress, which she just realized was the very dress that she had had on before she fell into Wonderland. She then snapped herself back into focus and turned to face Shun.

"I'm Alice," she told him with a smile. It felt so weird having to reintroduce herself to somebody that she had come to caring about so deeply. In a way, it kind of made her heart ache. What if he didn't want anything to do with her this time?

What if the feelings he displayed for her never returned because he didn't know who she was, and what she was to him? Just those thoughts almost brought tears to her eyes. Suddenly, the Constable stepped out from his office and threw a cleanly pressed shirt at Shun.

He said gruffly, "There. At least you'll have something somewhat clean while you wait for your grandfather to come and get you." The Constable then retreated back into his office. Alice hadn't even noticed how dirty and tattered Shun's clothes were.

She figured that he had wandered about in the forest for awhile before he stumbled upon Wonderland. She asked him, "Why'd you run away from home?" She didn't know anything about how Shun's life had been outside of Wonderland; she had only seen his strongest memories of his time in Wonderland.

He unfolded the shirt the Constable gave him and said, "My grandfather wanted me to train and join the military or something. I finally got fed up and left." Alice now knew how he had been such a skilled fighter and one of the Queen's strongest warriors, one worthy of being a Champion.

It hadn't come naturally, it had been trained into his blood. Alice wondered how Shun would feel if he ever found out how many lives he took while in Wonderland, and how he would feel about all he had done. She was sure he would hate himself like he did back then.

She shook away those thoughts and tried her best to stay focused on what was in front of her, not the past. Shun was slipping out of the filthy shirt he had on, and was about to put on the clean one that had just been given to him. In the one, swift moment it took him to change the shirts, Alice caught a quick glimpse of a scar on his abdomen, right where she had pierced him with her sword.

She asked him, "How'd you get that scar?" Shun straightened the buttons on his shirt and said, "I don't really know. I guess I injured myself in the forest and just don't remember what happened…..I don't remember anything that happened." _But I do, _Alice thought to herself.

Shun was suddenly looking right at her, his eyes narrowed as he looked more closely at her. Without breaking his amber gaze, he said, "I swear, though, I've seen you somewhere before. I just can't place it." Alice faked a smile and said sadly, "Maybe I just have one of those faces….."

Then, her smile turned genuine and she laughed as she added, "Or maybe in Wonderland." Her eyes widened when she realized what she had said. Shun tilted his head to the side, his eyebrow raised. "Wonderland?" he asked. Alice bit down on her lower lip, and she decided to go with it; maybe telling him about it would jog his memory, and she would get him back.

"Yes, Wonderland…..It's a whimsical place, one where flowers talk, people disappear, and Mad Hatters through tea parties all the time," she started. As she spoke, she felt her eyes threatening to spill over tears. She took in a deep breath and started to recompose herself before she broke down right there.

Alice continued. "But something happened there. An evil Queen took over and turned Wonderland into anything but wonderful. She struck fear into the hearts of the people, and darkness loomed over the land." She looked over at Shun, who was listening intently.

She smiled sadly and said, "The Queen took everything as her own, and made sure she always had her way. To ensure that she would always be in power, she found herself a Champion. She had him carry out all of her dirty work, and keep fear struck into Wonderland. He didn't want to do the things he did, but he didn't have a choice…..He never had a choice."

Alice took another moment to keep herself calm and from crying as she retold the tale of everything that happened between them. She stood up a bit straighter and said, "Then, there came a girl in Wonderland. She didn't know it, but she was meant to free the people of the Queen, all of the people. Even the Champion. There came a time when she and the Champion were trapped together, and forced to cooperate with one another. During that time, the two came to grow close, perhaps even cared deeply about one another, despite being on different sides of a brewing war."

Alice sat there and fidgeted with the watch that was still wrapped around her wrist. She was nearing the end of her little story. She continued and said, "The girl and the Champion were then taken back to the Queen's palace, where she would be put to death, and the Champion punished for his betrayal."

Alice thought for a moment she saw Shun shiver. She wasn't sure if he really did, but she did see a haunting look in his eyes.

She then said, "The Champion was forced to fight the girl and kill her, but the Queen overestimated the girl. As much as this girl cared for the Champion, she had no other choice but to kill him. And she did. It pained her, and she thought she would never get over the grief, but she kept fighting, and eventually killed the Queen with the very sword that belong to the Champion. The girl then took over as the new Queen of Wonderland, but she wasn't happy. She missed the Champion immensely and couldn't bear to be in Wonderland due to the memories that were everywhere she looked. So, she found a way to go back home, and that was the end of her adventure in Wonderland."

Shun suddenly doubled over in his chair. He clutched tightly to the sides of his head with his hands, and let out a cry of pain. "Shun!" Alice knelt down beside him, trying to find someway to help him. But as quickly as his pains started, they went away.

He remained bent over in the chair, his shoulders moving up and down as he panted heavily. "Shun? Are you alright?" Alice asked, her worry starting to quiet down a little, but it was still there. Shun lifted his gaze up and met hers, and Alice saw that his eyes were heavy with the same grief that she had seen in the amber orbs back in Wonderland.

They were the eyes of somebody who was pain and hurting all the time. They were his eyes. "Alice?" he asked, his voice low and almost inaudible. "You're….You're alive….Fabia didn't kill you," he added in between heavy breaths of air. Alice felt her eyes widen and tears stung them. She said under her breath, "You remember…..You remember what happened…..You remember me."

She couldn't contain the tears in her eyes any longer, and she let them flow over freely. Alice wrapped her arms around Shun in a hug, and she buried her face into the crook of his shoulder. "I thought I might have lost you for good," she sobbed through her tears of relief and happiness.

Shun had tears of his own forming in his eyes. He made Alice look at him face-to-face, and a slight smile formed on his lips. "Thank you, so much," he told her and closed the distance between them with a kiss. Alice imagined that this was what it would have been like back in Looking Glass Lake if the Knights of the Heart hadn't ruined their moment.

She imagined there would have been just as much electricity and emotion in that kiss as there was in the one they were sharing now. They broke their kiss and looked into each other's eyes. Smiles then formed on both of their faces, and they couldn't help but laugh.

They had each other again, and there would be no evil Queen in their way this time. There were no walls of obstacles for them to face now; it was just them, and nothing else. They could enjoy their lives together now, both of them free from the chains that had held them down and kept them from running to a life filled with happiness that only they could give each other.

They leaned into each other, and shared another kiss, one that would signal the beginning of a life together, a life of choices that would be all there own, and no one else's. They finally had a choice, and with that choice, they chose to be together, free as free could be.

* * *

_Chapter title based off the song Memories by Panic! At The Disco._ I hope the ending was up to your standards. It was certainly up to mine. _**Also, there is a tie in my poll (A full-on three way tie -.-''). Please, somebody, anybody, break the tie so I know which story to start again.**_ If not, then I'm just gonna pick. Read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~


End file.
